Adventure on the Venture
by the woman is a wolf
Summary: When Hayes' daughter comes aboard the Venture, on a journey to what she believes is Singapore, what will happen? And how will Hayes handle her?  Jimmy/OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! First off, can I just say that I'm thrilled that there is a King Kong category on fanfiction, as I didn't know whether there would be. This is my first King Kong fanfic, so (even though I'm sure you won't), please don't flame :( It makes me sad... Also, I suck at beginnings, so don't expect the first few sentences to blow you away! ^_^ It should get better though**

**I'm currently writing a story for Tomb Raider, and I was thrilled when I got reviews! I will be really happy if I get reviews with this too, and I will give everyone that reviews a cookie! ^_^**

**Lastly, can I just say that I know the title sucks, but I couldn't think of anything else to call it :P **

_**ANYWAY **_**I'll shut up now! XD I hope you enjoy!**

**Oh I almost forgot:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skull Island, neither do I own any of the characters in this story, save Elizabeth and Georgina Wilkinson and a few crew members... I wish I owned Jimmy though... *sighs dreamily* **

**Chapter One: A Stranger for a Father**

**Elizabeth's**

Elizabeth, being her truthful self, wouldn't have denied she felt a bit... apprehensive that day. You might even say she was scared. Who could blame her? She was going to meet her father, for the first time, and then stay with him for good. Perhaps she should have been joyous a the fact that she was finally going to meet the man that granted her existence... she wasn't. Not in the slightest. In fact, resentment had seeded itself in her heart, had spread it's roots, formed a bud and now, finally, it was slowly beginning to unfurl it's black petals. Resentment so strong, it was almost hatred. She didn't understand how he could have thrown aside her mother, leaving her pregnant. He hadn't been there when Elizabeth had said her first hadn't been there when she finished her first book. He hadn't been there when she started school. He hadn't been there when she began adolescence. He had _never _been there. Through all the hardships, the tears, the laughter... he hadn't been there. If Elizabeth believed in Fate, she would have wondered why it had conspired against her to make me grow up father-less.

She felt her eyes burn with tears and wiped them inconspictuously to rid them of the moisture. She tried to focus on something, anything else to aid her in ignoring the fear of the unknown, that throbbed in her chest with an almost palpable pain. Elizabeth focused on the coarse, worn taxi seats. She focused on the grubby windows. She focused on the smell of tobacco that came from the driver, that mingled with her mother's subtle perfume, creating an interesting odour... not one that Elizabeth would recommend as a scent. She glanced at her mother. She, as usual, was wrapped up in her own little world. Her little cocoon of self-pity. This time she had cause... and the cause came under the name: 'Cancer'. However, she did not don the dress of self-pity specially for her illness... no, it had been there as long as Elizabeth had been alive. Elizabeth could understand at first. Her mother's lover had left her, that would be painful for anyone. But after a while, Elizabeth realised her mother was selfish at heart. True she sent Elizabeth to school, gave her shelter, food and clothing, but she never gave her daughter any affection. No, everything stopped at the neccesities. All the books Elizabeth had read, she bought from the money she earned by sweeping the stage at the 'Elite Theatre'. All the clothes she wore were from those same funds, and when she was large enough, discarded clothes from her mother. That day as they drove to the docks, Elizabeth's mother stared out of the window with empty eyes and a stoic face. She always wore that mask of indifference. She also always wore the regal clothing she barely had enough money for, flaunting them in peoples faces, so when coupled with her aristocratic air, people wouldn't guess she was a woman that was nearly bankrupt.

The taxi came to an abrupt stop, and Elizabeth stepped out and brushed down her skirt. It wasn't anything special, neither was her blouse or her jacket, but they were clean. Elizabeth heaved her heavy trunk out of the taxi. The only things in it were about five changes of clothing and around seventy books and my journal. Despite Elizabeth's lack of money, she previously have more novels, but her mother insisted that she throw most of them out, as there wouldn't be much room on the ship for them. She didn't even know that Elizabeth had the amount that she did in her suitcase, on the contrary, she believed Elizabeth had considerably less.

Eliabeth breathed in the sharp winter air. The smell of inumerable fish and sailors' sweat was carried by the harsh breeze, that blew back the young woman's hair, which had somehow found it's way out of it's bun. Elizabeth grunted and hurriedly put her golden locks into a pony-tail, as her mother had made it clear she was not going to wait for her daughter. Elizabeth couldn't help thinking that her father had good reason to leave her mother, as she watched her strut across the deck with her head held high, as proud as a peacock. Elizabeth smirked.

_She actually thinks she is someone important_. Elizabeth thought.

_She overates herself,_ grossly. The pair approached a large white ship, and Elizabeth hoped that her father worked on _that _one. But her mother swiftly led her past it onto the next one. This one was significantly smaller, and a good deal grubbier. Elizabeth looked at it's name that was engraved upon it. _The Venture. _

"How delightfully clicheed." She mumbled to herself irritably. She snapped out of her daydream as she bumped full force into her mother. The older woman stumbled forward, falling on the man in front of her. Elizabeth couldn't help but feel a prick of satisfaction.

"Watch out!" Elizabeth's mother exclaimed, giving her daughter an ice cold glare and a sound wack with her hand bag. The man she had bumped into meanwhile, was looking at the two women with amusement, which disappeared as soon as it had came. He then looked at Elizabeth with a mixture of interest... and something the woman couldn't put her finger on. He had a saucy smile plastered on his features. Elizabeth shifted and tapped her foot on the floor, feeling uncomfortable in his penetrating gaze. She looked at him closer, and decided he had some rugged handsomeness about him.

"Can I help you maam?" He asked Elizabeth's mother. He had a distinct accent, but Elizabeth gave up trying to identify it after the first few guesses. Accents were not my strong point. I thoughtit was German... I was probably wrong.

"That depends." Elizabeth's mother replied icily.

"Are you the Captain of _this _ship?" She said, gesturing to _The Venture._ Elizabet let out a groan, and her mother gave her a sharp kick on her ankle. The Captain smirked before answering the older woman's question.

"That I am." Elizabeth bit her tongue and stifled another groan.

"And you have a Mr. Hayes on board do you not?"

_Hayes. Father._ Elizabeth thought to herself. The Captain took a while longer in answering that question.

"Yes..."

"Fetch him." Elizabeth's mother said imperiously, waving a hand, in a disdaintful action, at the ship. A brief flash of anger flashed in the Captain's eyes which was soon replaced by amusement. He gave half a laugh, half an incredulous snort and then bellowed from the top of his lungs.

"Mr Hayes!" Elizabeth jumped a foot in the air at his yell, of which the women had no warning.

"How rude!" The girl's mother muttered quietly. Elizabeth gave a small smirk. Soon a black man came up beside the Captain. Elizabeth's mother gave a curt nod to the Captain and then ignored him completely, her eyes locking themselves on the other man, who Elizabeth presumed was Mr Hayes, her father.

"Miss Wilkinson." He said, the muscles in his jaw rippling. Apart from that tell-tale sign, his face was stoic.

"Mr Hayes." Elizabeth's mother replied, feigning amiableness. The Captan meanwhile had turned to a bunch of crates and appeared to be signing them off. Elizabeth found her eyes unwillingly roaming over his figure and suddenly, he turned his head around and caught the girl's eye. She felt a rush of heat creep up her neck. He gave her a wink and then turned back around. The girl looked at the floor. She could feel the heat eminating off of her cheeks and could feel my eyebrows being drawn together in a scowl. She decided then that she didn't like him.

"...daughter," Elizabeth heard her mother say. She looked up at Mr Hayes, right into his eyes, which suddenly glimmered with anger.

"Elizabeth Wilkinson." Elizabeth held out her hand.

"Mr Hayes." She said politely. He gripped her hand firmly. His voice had a slight waver to it as he spoke, as if he was struggling with his anger, only just managing to keep it under check.

"Elizabeth." There was an awkward pause, and then he said to her mother.

"She looks like a fine girl, but why have you brought her here?" Elizabeth's mother gave a small malicious smile.

"I _expect _you to take her in." Elizabeth heard her father inhale sharply, and heard a clatter from behind her. She risked a look and saw that the Captain had dropped the board he had been writing on. Her father dropped her hand abruptly.

"Can I ask why?"

"I have had the burden of caring for her for seventeen years,"

_Thank you mother. _Elizabeth thought to myself.

"It's your turn now." Hayes snorted.

"Besides, I am... dying." She said quietly. Hayes gave her a funny look and snorted again.

"You're kidding... right?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Cancer." There was another awkward pause.

"Give me a..." Hayes began and then rushed to the Captain's walked along the gangplank, all the while Hayes making animated gestures and looking towards Elizabeth. The Captain said nothing, only gave the girl sorry glances. The Captain said something calmy, and Elizabeth's father became more subdued. They then came over to the women. The Captain offered his hand to Elizabeth.

"Welcome aboard Miss Wilkinson." He said. She took said hand and shook it. He looked down at her skirt.

"I hope you have clothes more suited to work?" He asked.

"Umm..." The girl looked at my mother and laughed nervously.

"No matter. Jimmy's about your size. Maybe he has some spare. Jimmy!" The Captain gave another of his earth shattering yells, eliciting yet another jerk from both Elizabeth and her mother. The latter frowned sourly. She then turned to face her daughter.

"So... this is goodbye then." The latter said, a small lump forming in her throat. No matter how much she detested that woman, she had taken care of her, unlike the girl's father. She gave her best effort of forming a smile.

"You'll be fine... and maybe one day you'll settle down and get off this godforsaken tin can." She said, motioning towards _The Venture. _Elizabeth heard the Captain mumble something under his breath.

"Yes. Maybe." She replied. There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Well, stay safe." she said grasping Elizabeth's shoulder with an iron grip.

"Likewise." Then she pulled away from the girl and walked down the old, wooden boards to the cab. At that moment, Elizabeth turned back towards the Captain... _her _Captain. There was a young lad beside him, shooting the young woman dirty looks.

"Jimmy," The Captain said.

"Give Elizabeth here a pair of clothes suitable for work and show her around the ship. Oh but first... show her to the..." The Captain smirked.

"Cabin." He gave Jimmy a wink. Elizabeth hurridely undid her hair, now that she would be free of her mother's reprimands

"Yessir." Jimmy answered, and without waiting for Elizabeth, went up the walking board to the ship. The girl heaved her trunk up and followed him. She gritted my teeth. Would She have a word or two for him!

A few moments later, the pair were traversing some steps which Elizabeth could only presume lead down to the cargo hold. It was dark and damp and had a terrible stench. She inhaled it, trying to identify it. Urine! She made a face. Glancing at the cages, she presumed that this ship carried live animals, and had failed to clean one (or more) of the cages from their last load. The stairs creaked under the weight of Elizabeth and the trunk as she wondered, why on _earth _Jimmy was leading her down there?

"Why are we going down here?" She asked him.

"Aren't you supposed to be taking me to my cabin first?" He didn't give an answer, but Elizabeth swore she heard him let out a chuckle. By this time we had reached the bottom of the stairs he was walking over to a cage. Elizabeth looked in and saw two rusty bed nailed to the floor, with clean but worn matresses on top. There was also a stained looking blanket folded neatly on top. Elizabeth looked from the beds to Jimmy.

"Oh no..." She said. He smirked and opened the cage door.

"Your cabin." He said in a mocking voice, bowing dramatically and indicating to the cage with one hand. He looked up, a cheeky grin on his face.

"Well, _our _cabin."

"You can't be serious..." She said. He didn't answer, but turned and went into the cage next to it, whistling some sort of shanty. He opened a chest and rumaged around in it, eventually pulling out a faded but clean blue shirt, grey vest and creased black trousers with a wrinkled leather belt. He came out of that cage and went into the one with the beds, with Elizabeth hard on his heels.

"I love your courtesy here I must say!" She exclaimed sarcastically.

"Oh yes, dumping me in a cage, giving me the honour of struggling with a heavy trunk paired with a strained bicep. Is there no end to your generosity?" She unzipped her trunk with a flourish and pulled out some plimsolls. She hurriedly shut the case again before he could spy her books. She ripped my right shoe off, involuntarily raising her leg to a point where her skirt _may _have fallen to an immodest position.

"Slightly revealing, non?" Jimmy asked in a French accent. Elizabeth realised the position she was in and lowered her leg hurridely. She could feel her cheeks burning up. Jimmy had practically fallen on the floor and was laughing until his face was blue. Elizabeth flung her shoe at him irritably, hitting him squarely on the back of the head.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, his happy demeanor suddenly taking flight. The girl shrugged and tugged off her other shoe. She flung it at the wall.

"Temper..." He observed. He looked at her expectantly.

"What?" She snapped.

"You gonna get changed? Or do you need me to help you?" She felt her cheeks getting hotter once more.

"I think I'll manage." She said making a face. She stared at him.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"I don't want you in here while I'm changing!"

"I'll be in here all the time! Or someone else will! So you might as well get used to it now!" Elizabeth glared at him, then sighed.

"Well at least turn around." He rolled his eyes, but did so.

"Alright. Say 'OK' when you're done."

"Alright." Even though he wasn't looking, she decided not to take a chance and pulled on the trousers underneath her skirt. While she did so Jimmy asked: 

"So... why are you here?" Elizabeth could tell by the tone of his voice he didn't want to talk to her. She paused while taking off her skirt. It still felt strange with him there, but she tried to ignore him.

"I'd rather not say." She answered quietly, resuming taking off her skirt.

"C'mon, tell me." He coaxed.

"No."

"C'mon."

"No!"

"C'mon!"

"_No_!" Elizabeth yelled again, her voice muffled as she took off her blouse, it's buttons still done up to the half way point. She had given up trying to undo them with her numb hands.

"C'mon already!" He persisted. Elizabeth sighed exasperatedly flinging my blouse onto the bed.

"OK." She said, defeatedly. Jimmy spun around.

"No!" Elizabeth screamed. Too late. Jimmy's face turned as red as a beetroot. The girl flopped on the bed.

_My first day and a crew member had seen me half naked. _Elizabeth thought. Jimmy's eyes were still gazing over at her, his mouth slightly open. She glared at him.

"Oh, sorry." He mumbled turning an even brighter red and spinning around once more. Elizabeth sighed again and yanked on the vest and then slipped her arms into the shirt's sleeves. She managed to button it up, despite the fact that her hands ontop of being numb were now shaking uncontrolably.

At least he had stopped asking me why I was there...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! First of all, let me apologise for the amount of typos I had in the last chapter. It was a last minute change from singular language to third person… and I left a lot of mistakes *blushes* Also, I don't have spell check on my laptop. This chapter should be a lot better, because I have spell-check and don't need to change singular language to third person. **

**talk-ape: Ok… is this good or bad? XP**

**Also, before I go, if you are a fan of Tomb Raider, Star Trek: The Next Generation or Inkheart, please check out my other fanfics in those categories ^_^ **

**Also! Please, please, PLEASE join my King Kong forum! It has a RPG and various discussion forums… and is still awaiting people to join ^_^ Please?**

**As usual, please review! I only have one so far but I need more to encourage me to write! I want to know if you like it or not. **

**And Lastly:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own King Kong, or any characters within (save Elizabeth Wilkinson and the odd crew member). Neither do I own Skull Island.**

**Chapter Two: A **_**girl**_**?**

**Jimmy**

"Jimmy!" Jimmy groaned at the Captain's call. Every single time he tried to read his book for as long as five minutes someone called for him. It was inevitable. With people like Lumpy or Choy, he could risk a 'One second!' or a 'Why me?' But with Mr Hayes or the Captain… saying something like that was a decidedly bad plan.

Jimmy sighed and tucked the book inside the belt of his trousers. He pulled himself to his feet… feet which seemed to be as heavy as two lumps of lead. He scurried along the deck, as best as he could on his legs which were numb from the biting cold, like a rat racing towards a chunk of particularly pungent cheese.

_A dirty rat no less _he thought, as he gazed down at his filthy hands. He hurriedly wiped them on his trousers, examined them, and upon decided they were reasonably clean, smiled at his handiwork. He jogged across the gangplank and arrived beside the Captain only slightly out of breath. He noticed straight away the two women that were standing across from the Captain and Mr Hayes. One was significantly younger than the other, he presumed they were mother and daughter. The mother was wearing fine clothes and held a very regal, arrogant air. He scowled at her. He noticed the daughter looked at him, and glowered at her as well. He doubted she would be much different from the mother.

"Jimmy," The young lad looked up at his Captain.

"Give Elizabeth here…" He gestured to the younger woman.

"… a pair of clothes suitable for work and show her round the ship. Oh but first… show her to the…" Jimmy grinned at the Captain's smirk. What did he have up his sleeve.

"Cabin." Captain Englehorn gave Jimmy a wink, causing Jimmy's grin to grow until it almost reached his ears.

"Yessir." Jimmy complied obediently. He then sped off back over the gangplank, not bothering to wait for this 'Elizabeth'. He sped across the deck, his brow furrowed. What was a girl doing here? On an old, grimy ship? What use were girls to anyone? All they did was whine and cry and cry and whine. The Captain had said an actress would be joining a film crew on their next voyage… that was bad enough without _another _girl turning up!

_And didn't the Captain say 'work clothes'? _Jimmy thought to himself.

_But that means… I'll have to work with her? _He gave an angry grunt and booted at an empty bucket that was rolling across the floor. An evil smile suddenly appeared on his face as he approached the entrance to the cargo hold and imagined the expression on Elizabeth's face when she saw her 'accommodation'.

Jimmy waited for the girl to catch up – God she was slow – and then began to lead her down the creaky, old stairs to the cargo hold. The smell of urine that drifted from the cages did not bother Jimmy… he was already used to it.

"Why are we going down here?" Elizabeth's whiny voice asked him.

"Aren't you supposed to be taking me to my cabin first?" Jimmy didn't answer, but only chuckled, as amusement and satisfaction welled up in his like water from a spring. The pair reached the bottom of the stairs and Jimmy walked over to one of the numerous cages that filled the room. He gazed in at his bed which sat faithfully on the right hand side of the cage, nailed to the floor, and smirked at the thought of Elizabeth tossing and turning in the opposite bed. Sure he wouldn't get much sleep, but hey! What was new? And it would be worth it anyway, just to see the look on the city girl's face…

"Oh no…" Jimmy heard Elizabeth exclaim. He gave a smirk as satisfaction embraced him warmly. Jimmy opened the door to the cage with a happy smirk.

"Your cabin." He told Elizabeth sarcastically, with an overdramatic bow and a gesture towards the cage. He looked up to observe Elizabeth's reaction with an impish smile.

"Well, _our _cabin." Jimmy added, grimacing slightly as he imagined what that would entail.

"You can't be serious." Elizabeth said incredulously. Jimmy didn't answer, but entered the neighbouring cage, whilst whistling a merry shanty, and opened up a large, watertight chest in which he kept his clothes. He smiled at the familiar sensation of the locks opening and at the familiar texture of the clothes he grabbed, which were rough and ragged, but clean nonetheless. He draped the shirt, trousers and belt over his arm and went out of that cage into the one with the beds. He grinned again as he heard Elizabeth storming behind him. He wondered if she knew how ridiculous she seemed.

Jimmy threw the clothes onto her bed and stood by idly. At least staying with the girl gave him an excuse not to work.

"I love your courtesy here I must say!" Elizabeth exclaimed sourly, Jimmy's amused expression not doing much in the way of abating her anger.

"Oh yes, dumping me in a cage, giving me the honour of struggling with a heavy trunk paired with a strained bicep. Is there no end to your generosity?" Jimmy barely managed to hold in a guffaw as Elizabeth opened her trunk it a rather haughty and perhaps pompous way. She whipped out a pair of plain, black plimsolls and shut the trunk hurriedly. She tore off her right shoe and raised her leg to put on the plimsoll. Jimmy scoffed as her skirt fell to an immodest position.

"Slightly revealing, non?" He exclaimed in a phony, French accent. Elizabeth realised what she was doing and lowered her leg hurriedly. Jimmy burst out laughing at her bright red cheeks and fell to the floor gasping for breath. He abruptly stopped laughing however when he felt a searing pain on the back on his head. He spied Elizabeth's shoe on the floor and looked up at her frowning.

"Hey!" He yelled. Elizabeth shrugged in reply, tore off her other shoe and flung it at the wall.

"Temper…" Jimmy noticed. He looked at her, as another bubble of laughter grew inside of him.

"What?" Elizabeth barked irritably.

"You gonna get changed? Or do you need me to help you?" Jimmy asked her. He smirked as she blushed once more.

"I think I'll manage." She retorted with a sneer. She glared at him.

"What?" Jimmy asked feigning innocence.

"I don't want you in here while I'm changing!"

"I'll be in here all the time! Or someone else will! So you might as well get used to it now!" The girl glowered at Jimmy, who in turn smirked. Finally, Elizabeth sighed resignedly.

"Well at least turn around." Jimmy rolled his eyes but did as she asked without complaint.

"Alright. Say 'OK' when you're done."

"Alright." Jimmy stood, fidgeting awkwardly. He decided that there was no point just standing there doing nothing. He decided he'd poke around, even if just to irritate her.

"So... why are you here?" The boy asked, the tone of his voice betraying the fact that he asked, not because he wanted to know, but to find an opportunity to nag and wear Elizabeth down. There was a pause in the rustling of fabric.

"I'd rather not say." Elizabeth replied in a muted tone.

"C'mon, tell me." Jimmy insisted, waiting for the sign that told him he was pushing on all the right buttons.

"No."

"C'mon."

"No!"

"C'mon!"

"_No_!" Elizabeth bellowed again, her voice slightly muffled. Jimmy presumed she was pulling off her blouse.

"C'mon already!" Jimmy urged. He grinned wickedly as he heard Elizabeth sigh irritably.

"OK." She said wearily. Taking that as a confirmation that Elizabeth was dressed, Jimmy spun around.

"No!" The woman shrieked shrilly. Jimmy could feel the heat shooting up his neck and into his face. He gaped at the semi-decent woman before him. He could almost feel his eyes bulge. He then noticed Elizabeth glowering at him.

"Oh sorry." Jimmy stuttered, spinning back around.

Man would this be awkward…

**Please review guys! I get a review, you get a cookie… we all get something we want ^_^**

**Also, even though I don't own King Kong or any characters/sets within, for paranoia reasons:**

**© LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx 2010**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: First off, let me apologise for my long departure. Recent circumstances with the technology and with the weather have made it impossible to update as soon as I would have liked. **

**Thanks to Fiihox for putting this story on alert and LEXA14 for faving it as well ^_^ Also thanks to FutureFamous for putting this story on alert.**

**FutureFamous: Here you go ^_^ And more is on the way!**

**Please, please, PLEASE review! It would make me really happy ^_^ Even if it's just a 'Good so far! Update soon!' it's just good to know people are reading this ;D**

**Also, it would be fantastic if you guys could join my King Kong forum. There's a (what will turn out to be) an AU RPG with the theme and characters from King Kong. I would love to see you guys there!**

**It seems that Jimmy and Elizabeth's encounter has left them a bit milder… but for how long will this last?**

**Anyhoo, ENJOY! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own King Kong, or any characters within (save Elizabeth Wilkinson and the odd crew member). Neither do I own Skull Island.**

**Chapter Three: 'Jump'?**

**Elizabeth**

Elizabeth stabbed at the buttonhole with the last button on the shirt in a feeble attempt to button it up.

"Stuff it," She muttered glaring angrily at her trembling hands. She clenched them into fists and held them behind her back, turning around to face Jimmy.

"I'm ready," She mumbled in a quiet voice, her eyes fixed to a glob of a black, sticky-looking something that was spread on the floor, mingled in with the dirty hay. Jimmy turned around, avoiding her gaze and gnawing on the inside of his cheek. Elizabeth noticed his face was still a vivid beetroot red.

"C'mon," The young man muttered, rushing towards the door to the cage. He held the heavy door open without any sarcastic remarks which surprised Elizabeth so much she almost tripped as she shuffled towards the door. As she sidled through the door, she brushed against Jimmy's arm, and shivered.

"What's the matter?" His curious voice asked. Elizabeth turned to the young man. A questioning frown on his face.

"You ill?" He looked embarrassed at his sudden display of anything akin to concern and quickly added:

"Because you'd better pull yourself together. Captain Englehorn needs as many hands as possible with the guests comin' and all."

"I'm fine," Elizabeth answered.

"Just cold is all." Truth was of course, she felt it to be stifling in the hold.

"You look as if you're pipin'." Jimmy objected, stepping closer to the girl. For a moment, Elizabeth wondered why her alarm bells weren't ringing. Wondered why she felt strangely safe. Jimmy hesitated a moment before raising a grubby hand and pressing it to Elizabeth's forehead. She bit her lip and tensed her back, in a conscious effort not to shiver again. She felt as if she couldn't breathe and as if sparks of electricity were being ignited inside of her.

_What the hell? _She thought to herself, puzzled as to why she was reacting like this to the touch of a boy who she had only just met, and who had been rude to her in that space of time.

"You feel warm." Jimmy informed her. She rolled her eyes.

"Really?" She asked sarcastically.

"Sheesh, just a gesture woman!" Jimmy exclaimed, snatching back his hand as if he had just found out he was touching a poisonous snake. In that moment, Elizabeth's heart melted, just for that one moment, that tiny, tiny, _tiny _moment.

"I know," She said kindly.

"Thanks." She smiled warmly before she could check herself, but then suddenly realised what she was doing went against everything inside her and turned away. It seemed that their incident had left her without her fire, without her biting tongue. Perhaps it was because she believed, in some small way, that it was life's way of paying her back for treating Jimmy as rottenly as she had when she had first met him.

"So, you have to show me around?" She asked Jimmy over her shoulder.

"Yea…" Replied Jimmy, sounding far away. Elizabeth turned to see him standing looking into space before he shook his head and scurried over to the stairs leading up to the deck. He pranced up them and Elizabeth followed him grudgingly.

"Well," Jimmy began with an extravagant bow.

"This is the deck."

"No? Really?" Elizabeth exclaimed unenthusiastically, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Jimmy rolled his eyes at her lack of humour before beckoning her to follow him. He showed her round showing her the galley and the cabin, the engine room and the poop deck, until finally there was but one place left.

"Now for my favourite place in this old tin can." Jimmy said grandly. He suddenly made a face.

"Wait… you're not afraid of heights are you?"

"No!" Exclaimed Elizabeth with a frown.

"Alright, alright… it's just, you know, most girls _are_." Jimmy said cheekily. Elizabeth was about to give an extremely satisfying reply, when Jimmy begun to climb up a rope that hung from the top of the… of the….

_Damn it. What's it called? _Elizabeth wondered.

_The crow's-nest! _She realised, heading towards the rope herself. She grabbed onto it tightly and clung onto it with grim determination. Elizabeth hated climbing ropes. It was one of her biggest weaknesses. Memories of school children poking fun at her as she slipped down the roped in the school gymnasium still haunted her, as silly as it sounded. Elizabeth grinded her teeth. She wouldn't fail. Not in front of Jimmy in any case. She'd never hear the end of it. She heaved herself up the rope, moving up inch by slow inch. After what seemed an eternity of climbing and praying to God that she wouldn't end by falling off a rope Elizabeth found herself being helped into the crow's-nest by Jimmy. Thankfully, he said nothing, but merely lent against the railing looking out over the sea. He sighed contentedly, looking out over the sea which was as blue as his eyes. It wasn't hard to tell that he could hardly wait until they set sail.

Elizabeth joined Jimmy by the rail and looking up at a flock of seagulls, which flew with ease over her head, mewing at her as if asking her to join. She smiled fondly as she remembered the times when she dreamed of flying, with the air of a pair of snowy white wings through the inky black sky. Elizabeth pulled her eyes away from the gulls and let her eyes wonder across the water, taking in every silver ripple. Dusk was beginning to fall and a gentle breeze caressed her cheeks. She glanced at Jimmy, who was slowly seating himself down, allowing his legs to dangle in the railing. She mimicked him as she discovered that the ship had just set off, smoothly cutting through the waves. It was then a voice drifted up to her… an irritated voice, to say the least.

"God damn it!" Elizabeth poked her head between the railings and spied a tall man with a black jacket who was glowering out at the harbor. Elizabeth guessed that he didn't want to be there much. A short, stout man soon joined him, casually leaning on the rail.

"Keep telling you Jack," The stouter man began. Elizabeth decided right then that she didn't like him. The other seemed alright though…

"There's no money in theatre." Elizabeth then noticed a police car on the harbor. A man leapt out. She could hear him faintly yelling 'Oh no, no!'

"You're much better off sticking with film." The stout man finished off. Elizabeth strained his eyes to see what he was doing. He must have been cleaning a pipe or something.

"I don't do it for the money Carl…" The tall man replied quietly.

"I happen to love the theatre."

"No you don't." The stout man replied confidently.

"If you really loved it, you would of jumped." Elizabeth looked down at the deep sea, and the height it was from the deck and raised an eyebrow.

_I wouldn't have jumped down there for my mother, never mind theatre. _Elizabeth looked back on what she had just thought, and decided that it hadn't made much sense, considering she loathed her mother in any case…

"Who're they?" Elizabeth asked Jimmy, nodding down towards the two men. He looked down and shrugged.

"Some film producers or somethin'. Don't know what their names are." Elizabeth gave a nod and leant forward on the railing, looking up at the stars which were slowly fading into view. She gave a small sigh and closed her eyes, feeling as if she could doze off…

"I asked you a question earlier," Jimmy said to Elizabeth, making her jump and her eyes snap open.

"You didn't answer." Elizabeth frowned. She couldn't remember him asking her anything….

"What then?" She asked impatiently.

"Why are you here?" Elizabeth smirked.

"You were showing me around the ship." Jimmy stared at her clueless for a minute before grasping her meaning.

"Ha." He said sarcastically.

"No I meant why are you on this ship?" Elizabeth groaned and threw her head back. She looked at him.

"Fine," She surrendered.

"If it'll shut you up…" She mumbled.

"I heard that!" Jimmy exclaimed with a frown.

"That was my intention, yes." Elizabeth retorted, before sighing and passing a hand over her pretty face. She sighed before telling her tale.

"Hayes is my father. He had some type of relationship with my mother but then left her. My mother recently discovered that she was dying from cancer…" Elizabeth paused and swallowed. She may have despised that woman, but she was her own flesh and blood at the end of the day, and in some small way Elizabeth cared about her.

"So I was sent here, to live with my father." Jimmy stared at her with pursed lips.

"Sorry." He mumbled awkwardly. Elizabeth shrugged.

"Not your fault." Jimmy sighed exasperatedly and stared out once more at the far horizon, which was tinged with a pale, milky blue colour. Elizabeth let her eyes wonder over in that direction to and thought about her past, and her present, and her future.

Her past: She was born out of wedlock to a snobby, poverty-stricken mother, and had eventually earned a job at a grubby theatre in which most of the actors wolf-whistled at her or leered suggestively at her whilst she was cleaning their dressing rooms… Elizabeth glanced at Jimmy.

_He doesn't seem to be like that though. _She though. She shook her head.

_But they all turn out to be the same._

Her present: She was stuck on a tramp steamer, filled with filthy, sweaty men, who so far had only shown themselves to be rude and rough. Elizabeth glanced at Jimmy again.

_He doesn't seem to be like that either. _Elizabeth shook her head even more violently this time.

_What _is _this? _She wondered, as her mind was assaulted by an unknown emotion.

_Love? _She asked herself. She frowned.

_No. Never! Anyway…_

Her future: She would most likely have to stay on the ship for another… three years? Four perhaps?

_Oh god… But then what? Find a job in New York again? Spend my years living a lonely life with nothing for company except a dead cat on my lap? I… _Elizabeth's thoughts were interrupted by a persistent poking on her shoulder. She twisted around to face Jimmy.

"What?" She asked, not impatiently, not unkindly, just curiously.

"I'm bored." Jimmy told her.

"Well, amuse yourself." Elizabeth told him, looking out towards the sea again.

"But I left my book downstairs!" Jimmy moaned. Elizabeth turned around to face him once more.

"Book?" She asked, her eyes lighting up

"Yea. 'Heart of Darkness'. Heard of it?" Elizabeth shook her head.

"Is it any good?" Jimmy shrugged.

"I could let you borrow it sometime," He suggested.

"I mean… I might." Elizabeth gave a faint smile

"I'd like that." Jimmy gave her a beam back. He paused for a moment, before his grin became wider… and cheekier.

"I Spy?" He asked. Elizabeth gave a fake groan and shook her head. Jimmy laughed, and Elizabeth joined in for the sake of laughing. At first their laughing was quiet, barely noticeable, but soon it grew in volume until it echoed over the sea. Elizabeth, her eyes streaming with tears, her breath coming out in large gasps, clamped her mouth shut as a sailor ordered them to shut up (none too kindly either). The joy inside Elizabeth suddenly died out, and was replaced by embarrassment and that all too familiar confusion. What _was _it she was feeling?

**Jimmy**

"Stuff it," Jimmy heard Elizabeth mutter angrily.

"I'm ready." She then informed him. The young man turned around, biting the inside of his mouth nervously, looking anywhere and everywhere but into her startlingly beautiful green eyes.

_Wait… what? _He thought to himself. He shook his head.

_Nerves must have made me go screwy. _He thought to himself

"C'mon," He muttered to Elizabeth before opening the hefty cage door. He could still feel the heat radiating off his cheeks from their… encounter. The girl almost tripped on his way over to him. She seemed to have suddenly taken a large interest in her worn out shoes. Jimmy felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as Elizabeth brushed lightly against his arm. He looked at her concernedly as she gave a small shiver.

"What's the matter?" He asked her, a curious frown on his face.

"You ill?" Jimmy suddenly realised what he was doing and swiftly added:

"Because you'd better pull yourself together. Captain Englehorn needs as many hands as possible with the guests comin' and all." Jimmy could have kicked himself for seeming that heartless… but wait… wasn't that his aim in the first place? To be cold? To be heartless? To hate the girl in front of him? He was strong. He had will power. But somehow his strength and willfulness has fizzed away since he had met the girl.

"I'm fine," Elizabeth answered.

_Liar. _Jimmy thought.

"Just cold is all."

"You look as if you're pipin'." Jimmy protested moving closer to the girl, a tight ball forming in his chest as the distance between them lessened. Jimmy reached out with his hand and pressed it against the girl's forehead. He held his breath as he made contact with her smooth skin. He felt all… tingly…

_What. The. HELL? _He asked himself, as he wondered why he felt like he was feeling when it came to such a… such a _girl_!

"You feel warm." Jimmy said. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Really?" She exclaimed mordantly.

"Sheesh, just a gesture woman!" Jimmy said, taking back his hand, more than slightly hurt.

"I know," Elizabeth said softly, with the smallest hint of… regret?

"Thanks." She gave a warm smile, which disappeared as soon as it had come. She turned away from Jimmy abruptly.

"So, you have to show me around?" Jimmy heard her ask.

"Yea…" Jimmy confirmed, staring into nothingness, whilst wondering what had just happened. He shook his head disbelievingly (disbelief that Elizabeth was being kind to him and that now he had no reason for being unkind to her… all good things…) and went over to the stairs that led up to the deck. Upon reaching it and being joined by Elizabeth, he bowed overdramatically.

"Well, this is the deck." He began.

"No? Really?" Elizabeth said sarcastically. Jimmy rolled his eyes and without further ado showed her the rest of this ship.

"Now for my favourite place in this old tin can." Jimmy told Elizabeth proudly. Then, as an afterthought:

"Wait… you're not afraid of heights are you?"

"No!" Exclaimed Elizabeth with an extremely displeased face.

"Alright, alright… it's just, you know, most girls _are_." Jimmy said impudently, and with that he scrambled up the rope leading to the crow's-nest like a spider monkey. He reached the top and swung himself into the railed platform. He stared out at the sea that stretched around him with a contented sigh, the silence filling him like sweet nectar. The silence broke as he heard a scrabbling from underneath him. He looked down and saw Elizabeth nearing the crow's-nest. Jimmy reached down and helped her inside. Once she was safely inside, Jimmy sighed again and leaned on the rail, looking down at the landscape before him.

A seemingly endless expanse of glittering waves stretched before him, glinting in the last of the day's light, seagulls reflecting in its thrashing surface. Jimmy smiled as the gentle wind ruffled his hair, and as he heard the waves gently suck against the sides of the ship. He breathed in and smelt the smell of salty water, of sweat, of fish… of home. The smell he had learnt to love so much in the four years he had been there. His life now and his life before were complete opposites. One was heaven, and the other… he shivered lightly.

_Better to not think of that. _He thought with a grimace.

"Who're they?" Jimmy heard Elizabeth ask. He leaned forward and looked at the two men she was indicating to. He gave a small shrug.

"Some film producers or somethin'. Don't know what their names are." Elizabeth gave a nod and leaned on the railing, staring at the sky for a moment before she closed her eyes. Jimmy gave a smirk and brought an abrupt halt to her rest.

"I asked you a question earlier," Jimmy said to the girl. She gave a start and opened her eyes.

"You didn't answer." The girl gave a small confused frown.

"What then?" She prodded irritably.

"Why are you here?" Elizabeth gave an evil smile.

"You were showing me around the ship." Jimmy stared at her in confusion before realizing what she meant.

"Ha." He said sarcastically.

"No I meant why are you on this ship?" Elizabeth gave a moan and threw her head back abruptly. She looked at Jimmy.

"Fine," She said grudgingly.

"If it'll shut you up…" She muttered.

"I heard that!" Jimmy exclaimed angrily.

"That was my intention, yes." Elizabeth replied bitingly. She then gave a sigh and passed a hand over her face, as if she was tired.

"Hayes is my father. He had some type of relationship with my mother but then left her. My mother recently discovered that she was dying from cancer…" Elizabeth paused and Jimmy saw a lump in her throat move as she swallowed.

"So I was sent here, to live with my father." Jimmy gazed at her thoughtfully.

"Sorry." He muttered uncomfortably. Elizabeth gave a small shrug.

"Not your fault." Jimmy gave a sigh and stared once more at the far away sky. They sat in silence for a good few minutes, until Jimmy couldn't take the boredom anymore and gave Elizabeth a poke.

"What?" She asked him.

"I'm bored." Jimmy groaned.

"Well, amuse yourself." Elizabeth ordered, once more looking away from him and out to sea.

"But I left my book downstairs!" Jimmy grumbled. Elizabeth turned around to him once more.

"Book?" She asked, her eyes sparkling.

"Yea. 'Heart of Darkness'. Heard of it?" The girl gave her head a shake.

"Is it any good?" Jimmy shrugged.

"I could let you borrow it sometime," He said tentatively.

"I mean… I might." The girl smiled weakly.

"I'd like that." Jimmy grinned broadly at her. After a moment, his grin became wider, until it almost reached his ears.

"I Spy?" He asked impishly. Elizabeth groaned unconvincingly, and shook her head firmly. Jimmy laughed and was surprised to find that soon Elizabeth joined in with the laughter as well. Their laughing became louder, and louder, until Jimmy thought his sides would tears. Abruptly though, the laughter stopped, as a crewman yelled up, in somewhat crude terms, for them to quiet down. As soon as the laughter died, Jimmy felt like a fool, and he found himself wondering, what _was _it he was feeling?

**I'll tell you now, this happiness won't last terribly long. I was just in a fluffy mood :)**

**As usual, REVIEW!**

**Also, even though I don't own King Kong or any characters/sets within, for paranoia reasons:**

**© LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx 2010**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: And here's another one, to make up for my prolonged absence ^_^ **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I only own Elizabeth and a few crew members. As much as I would love to own Jimmy, I do not *sob***

**Chapter Four: Five Star Accommodation**

**Elizabeth**

Elizabeth rubbed her hands together to try and get a little heat from the friction. She stopped for a moment and blew into them, only serving to agitate the skin that was so cold it stung and felt raw and tender. She shivered as the bitter winter air bit into her, creeping under her skin, spreading throughout her body like some disease. She followed a trail of goose bumps on her arm with her finger in utter fascination. She was so absorbed she didn't notice Jimmy watching her, with a face that suggested he though she had lost her marbles. He gave her foot a sharp nudge with his own. She looked up at him absently.

"Hmm?" She hummed.

"If you're as cold as you look, you can go inside you know." He told her gruffly.

"Well… how cold do I look?" Elizabeth asked with a smirk.

"Well, your lips are going blue." Jimmy replied truthfully. Elizabeth's eyebrows twitched briefly before she stood up shakily. She looked down from the crow's-nest and saw the crewmen far below, faintly illuminated by the few lanterns on the deck. Elizabeth peered into the gloom below her nervously, gnawing on her lip.

"I thought you weren't afraid of heights." A voice whispered in her ear. Elizabeth jumped a foot in the air and turned around angrily to face Jimmy.

"If you make me jump like that again…" She began in an angry whisper.

"Then I'll…"

"You'll what exactly?" Jimmy asked with an amused smirk.

"Keep pushing me and you'll find out!" Elizabeth retorted. Jimmy snorted with disbelief and amusement.

"You're a girl!" He exclaimed making a face as he did so. Elizabeth rolled her eyes angrily. She had had quite enough of his sexism for one day. Without another word she left the crow's-nest and began to climb down the rope. The rope was coarse and rough, and scratched against her skin mercilessly. Despite how numb her hands were, she could still feel the rope scratching them and could still feel them stinging ruthlessly. Upon reaching the bottom of the rope Elizabeth hissed and pressed her stinging hands to her trousers. She looked at them to judge how bad the rope burn was, and was severely irritated to find some parts of her raw hands bleeding. She was even more irritated when Jimmy suddenly landed lightly beside her.

"Go. AWAY!" She spat at him between clenched teeth, making her best effort to control herself, but not doing so very well.

"Oh don't worry," He retorted.

"I'm not down here to see you; I'm down here to ask Mr. Hayes if we can throw you overboard!" And with that he stormed off to the galley.

Elizabeth stared after Jimmy incredulously. She wasn't sure whether he was purely angry or whether he had hurt his feelings as well. She shook her head angrily.

"Why should I care?" She muttered angrily to herself, booting an empty bucket out of her path as she made her way to her 'cabin'. She growled into the darkness and the horrible stench of the cargo hold as she made her way down the stairs.

_Perhaps I was a bit harsh on Jimmy. _She thought to herself.

"Ridiculous! He's treated me with nothing but contempt since I arrived here!" She replied to herself like a madwoman.

_But it is a big change for him; having a girl on the ship and having to bunk down in the same room as her._

"Well it's a big change for me living on a ship with my father who I've never met, miles away from my mother who is dying and miles from all else I've never known, but we can't all win can we?" She asked the darkness agitatedly, clenching her fists as if challenging it.

_But still…_

"Shut up! You know, just… just shut it!" Elizabeth exclaimed angrily pressing a hand to her forehead which was throbbing with pain every so slightly.

Elizabeth took the opportunity at that moment to have a look around her five star accommodation. Cages of all shapes and sizes surrounded her, filled with stale hay which was drenched with urine. She gagged as she passed a cage which still had a rather large pile of dung in one of its corners. Elizabeth walked between the cages, further into the gloomy darkness, and soon came across some dark coloured bottles, neatly stacked against a wall. Elizabeth picked one up and squinted at the label in the semi-darkness.

"'Chloroform'…" She read aloud. She snapped her head up towards the stairs, as she heard footfalls nearing her, and voices with them. She placed the bottle with the others, staring at it nervously as it tottered precariously, and then hid behind a stack of crates. She heard a male, Chinese sounding voice coming closer.

"This room very comfortable," The voice said.

"Dim light,"

_That's an overstatement. _Elizabeth thought with a frown, straining her ears to hear more.

"…Fresh straw."

_Fresh? _

"Jesus. What do you keep down here?" Another man asked. He was most definitely American… judging by his accent anyway. Elizabeth recognised him as the tall man she had heard speaking earlier on. Was he bunking down here too?

"Lion, tiger, hippo, you name it." The Chinese man replied.

"You sell them to zoos?" The American asked, in a voice that said he actually didn't give a fig.

"Zoos, circus, Skipper get big money for rare animal. Careful!" Elizabeth peeked around the corner of the crates to see what there was to be careful about.

"Camel have bad accident on floor. Stain unremovable."

_Ah… _thought Elizabeth, giving a faint smile as the American scraped the muck off his shoe on the edge of a crate. She tried to get a better look at him and rolled his eyes as he turned so he wasn't facing her, as he walked down another small space, holding a pile of worn blankets in his hands.

"Skipper catch any wild animal you want." The Chinese man continued.

"He'll do you real good price on white rhino." Another set of footsteps suddenly echoed in the hold.

"Choy." A gruff voice addressed the Chinese man.

_Speak of the devil. _Elizabeth thought with dread as Captain Englehorn appeared beside Choy. Captain Englehorn addressed the American who had turned around to face the Captain. Elizabeth squinted at the American's face now that he was facing her. His skin was quite pale (but not unpleasantly so) and she would be lying if she said she didn't find him attractive in the slightest. There was no doubt he was good-looking.

_And somewhat familiar... _Elizabeth thought to herself, wondering who he was.

"My apologies for not being able to offer you a cabin," Englehorn said to the American.

"Have you found an enclosure to your taste?" He asked dryly.

"Spoilt for choice…" The American muttered looking away for a moment. Elizabeth stifled a giggle.

"What are you Mr. Driscoll? A lion… or a chimpanzee?"

_Driscoll? _Elizabeth's eyes widened.

_I knew I recognised him. _Jack Driscoll_! Oh my god! _Elizabeth let out an excited squeal and clamped a hand to her mouth. The newly identified Jack Driscoll's eyes flickered in her direction. Thankfully, Choy and Captain Englehorn seemed to have not noticed anything. Jack looked around awkwardly, before indicating to a cage on his right.

"I'll take this one." He said, to no-one in particular. Suddenly there was a clattering sound, followed by a rolling sound. Elizabeth closed her eyes and sighed.

_There goes the chloroform _she thought to herself, her mind casting back to the bottle she had placed back on the pile and the way it had swayed precariously. There was a pause before the Captain piped up again. He was now talking to Choy again.

"I told you to lock it up," He said in a menacingly quiet voice.

"Sorry Skipper. Lumpy said…"

"Lumpy doesn't give the orders! What are you trying to do? Put the whole ship to sleep? Get them out of here."

"Yessir…" Choy complied, rushing forwards. Captain Englehorn held him back.

"When Mr. Driscoll is _not_ here Choy. We don't want him to be unconscious now do we?" Choy shook his head furiously. There was a pause.

"Go." Captain Englehorn told him giving him a little push on the back and as quick as a flash Choy scurried away. Captain Englehorn gave Jack a nod before leaving.

"Sleep well Mr. Driscoll." He said over his shoulder, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Jack gave a grunt and waited until the Captain had gone before turning to face where Elizabeth was hiding. She gave a loud sigh (which he evidently heard, but wasn't expecting, judging by the height he jumped into the air) and came out of her hiding place.

Elizabeth approached Driscoll shyly.

"Driscoll? _Jack _Driscoll?" She asked him quietly, looking up at him with reverent eyes. He straightened himself, causing him to appear even taller.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage." He told Elizabeth, gazing at her uneasily. Elizabeth offered her hand.

"Elizabeth Wilkinson." She said.

"I'm a great fan of your work." Jack's face dissolved into a smile and he grabbed her hand enthusiastically.

"Really?" He asked her curiously. She nodded fiercely.

"I used to skip out on work to watch your plays from backstage." She said.

"You were an actress?" Jack asked her, eyes wide. Elizabeth shook her head with a smile.

"No. Just the cleaner." She corrected him. He nodded.

"How many have you seen?" Elizabeth exhaled and looked upwards at the roof with a frown as she tried to count them all. She eventually met Jack's eyes again.

"All of them as far as I know." She said with a chuckle. Jack grinned. Elizabeth suddenly realised she was still clasping his hand, and swiftly pulled away, her cheeks tinged with a rosy red.

"So," Began Jack, his voice muffled as he went into his cage to clear some boxes away.

"What's a girl like you doing on a filthy ship like this?" He asked her.

"Oh, I'm not here because I want to be," Elizabeth said with a chuckle.

"My father is on this ship. My mother is dying so I came here to live with father."

_And you couldn't tell Jimmy that as easily as you can to this guy? _Elizabeth pushed that thought away.

"Oh. I'm sorry…" Elizabeth heard Jack say. Elizabeth went into the cage to help him move the boxes.

"Thanks," He said.

"No problem." There was an uncomfortable pause broken only by the scraping and shuffling of the boxes until Elizabeth spoke again.

"So what are _you _doing here?" She asked Jack. He gave a groan.

"I'm the script writer for a Mr. Carl Denham." He looked at Elizabeth.

"I'm not here because I want to be either." He told her.

"Why didn't you just turn him down?" Elizabeth asked Jack curiously. Jack gave a chuckle.

"You need to know Carl to understand why, and believe me, I tried." Jack shook his head.

"He just doesn't take no for an answer."

**Review guys ^_^**

**Also, even though I don't own King Kong or any characters/sets within, for paranoia reasons:**

**© LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx 2010**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hi guys! Sorry this review came in so late! Depression and Writer's block is a force to be reckoned with.**

**Thank you to everyone who has put this story on favourite or alert ^_^**

**R i v e r B l e u: Aww, thanks ^_^ Here you go!**

**Thank you also to my anonymous reviewer :) **

**Please review if you read this and care about it at all! Please? Please?**

**The song is 'O Mio Babbino Caro' by Giacomo Puccini and the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson is 'The Lady of Shallot'.**

**Disclaimer: I only own Elizabeth, Cyril, Cameron and Scott. I do not own Jimmy… or Jamie Bell… Don't rub it in -_- **

**Chapter Five: Nightingale**

**Jimmy**

"It can't be that bad Jimbo!"

"Don't call me Jimbo!" Jimmy snapped at his ever patient friend Cyril, who was perched on a crate pushed up against the outside cabin walls.

"And you're right; it ain't that bad… it's worse!" Jimmy ranted, gesturing animatedly.

"Really?" Asked Cyril, absently examining his finger nails, clearly under the impression that his friend was making a mountain out of a molehill.

"Yea, she's always yellin' or making some… some… comment!" Jimmy yelled agitatedly.

"Such a vixen... I could wring her pretty little neck!"

"Hmm…" Jimmy paused in his rant and looked at Cyril, who was quite obviously not listening anymore.

"Oi! Squirrel!" He yelled, angrily. Cyril jumped a foot in the air before snapped his head up to look at Jimmy. He gave a sheepish grin.

"You weren't listenin'." Jimmy accused. Cyril gave a melodramatic sigh and rolled his eyes.

"Well, I just figure, she's a girl! You can handle her." Jimmy puffed out his chest proudly.

"Yea! You're right. I can can't I? I'll… darn…" He groaned and threw his head back as he spied something, or someone, behind Cyril.

_Speak of the devil. _He thought to himself.

"And here comes the witch." He muttered loudly averting his eyes. Cyril gave a confused frown and looked over his shoulder to see a girl with blonde hair coming up from the cargo hold. Cyril gave a low wolf whistle, just loud enough for Jimmy to hear it. Jimmy gave a groan

"Oh no," He muttered with an exasperated sigh.

"Hallo!" Cyril yelled over to Elizabeth giving her a warm wave and a friendly smile. Jimmy shook his head and rolled his eyes. Elizabeth gave a shy smile towards Cyril and walked hesitantly over, not yet noticing that Jimmy was standing just a few feet away, refusing to look at her, but instead looking out at the murky sea.

_Just ignore her. _He thought to himself.

_It can't be that hard! _Moments later he would wonder why it proved to actually be very difficult.

"Hello," Elizabeth said to Cyril. He grinned cheerfully, his large, soft brown eyes twinkling merrily.

"Evenin'. You're Elizabeth aren't you?" He asked unnecessarily, getting to his feet. Elizabeth nodded.

"Yes." She confirmed, looking at him quizzically.

"But how did you…?"

"Oh, Jimmy here has told me a lot about you," Cyril interrupted, indicating to his friend and tilting his body slightly so that Elizabeth could see him. Elizabeth's smile disappeared and she glared icily at Jimmy, with evident animosity.

"Oh. Did he?" Elizabeth asked shortly, narrowing her eyes at Jimmy suspiciously.

"Good evening to you too Lizzy," Jimmy sneered making a face at her. Elizabeth clenched her fists and readied to take a step forward.

"Now, now." Cyril interrupted good naturedly, looking between the two of them anxiously. He had a feeling Elizabeth wouldn't hesitate to take a swing at Jimmy, and he didn't want to be present when Jimmy retaliated. Cyril turned back to Elizabeth with an amiable smile.

"What's a girl like you doing out on a cold night such as this?" He asked Elizabeth. Jimmy peered at Elizabeth.

_Is she… _blushing? He rolled his eyes discreetly.

"What a fox…" He mumbled sardonically under his breath. Elizabeth gave him a quick glare before answering Cyril's question.

"Um… I'm looking for anyone who has any spare matches… for my candle. I would like to read."

"Oh, I see. Well, I would give you some if I had any, but I don't." Cyril said almost apologetically.

"Well, thank you anyway." Elizabeth said with a warm smile.

"You're welcome marm."

"Oh please," Elizabeth said, holding up a dainty, lilywhite hand.

"Call me Elizabeth. That's what all my friends call me." Jimmy was agitated to find a bubble of jealously well within him.

"Ok…" Cyril complied in a dreamy voice, his mouth slightly slack. Elizabeth cheeks were suddenly tinged with a rosy red.

"Good night… um, I'm afraid I haven't caught your name." Elizabeth said.

"Cyril." He told her, smiling.

"Squirrel!" Jimmy exclaimed between a forced cough. Cyril ignored him completely, whilst Elizabeth gave him a quick, warning frown and then turned her attention back to Cyril.

"Good night Cyril."

"Good night mar… err, Elizabeth." The young man replied nervously a slight flush even appearing on his cheeks. Then with one last smile at Cyril and a scowl which was sourer that a lemon at Jimmy, Elizabeth left to continue her search for matches.

"Good night Lizzy!" Jimmy called after her sarcastically. He frowned after her for a moment then turned sharply around to face Cyril who was chuckling discreetly and shaking his head, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"What _now_?" Jimmy asked him irritably.

"You like her, don't you Jimbo?" Cyril asked cheekily, winking knowingly at the word 'like'.

"One, don't call me Jimbo," Jimmy exclaimed angrily, rushing towards Cyril.

"Two, no!"

_Liar. _He thought to himself.

"Didn't you _hear _and _see _the way I treated her? The way she treated me?" He continued, his voice progressively growing in volume.

"One," Began Cyril, mimicking Jimmy's voice.

"No it's funny, two, you treat her like that for attention and to hide the facts and three, she treats you like mud for the same reason _you_ treat _her _like mud." Jimmy stared at Cyril disbelievingly.

"So you think she _likes _me?" He asked. Cyril gave a short nod and a boyish grin. Jimmy gave a burst of incredulous laughter.

"You are drunk!" He exclaimed loudly.

"Nope, in fact I'm perfectly sober." Cyril said, with a mischievous grin. Jimmy rolled his eyes and gave a fed up sounding sigh.

"I'm going to go talk with someone who _hasn't _lost their mind." Jimmy told Cyril, looking down at him condescendingly. Cyril gave a chuckle and a shake of his head.

"Alright, have fun," Cyril replied walking in the direction Elizabeth had gone in. Jimmy gave a despairing shake of his head and went off to find Lumpy.

**Elizabeth**

"Well, I think I'm going to have a read and then hit the hay," Elizabeth told Jack.

"Right, well thanks for the help," The man replied indicating towards the neatly made up bed and the clear space where the boxes had previously been stacked.

"Where do you sleep?" He asked her.

"Down here." She replied unenthusiastically, huffing through her nose.

"So I can sympathise with you." She added with a soft grin.

"They make _women _sleep down here?" Jack asked, looking around the filthy cargo hold. The older man shook his head in bewilderment.

"Oh I don't mind _that_, it's my roommate I don't care for…" Elizabeth said with a grimace, her eyebrows drawing together in a frown.

"Oh, not you!" She added quickly, upon seeing the look on Jack's face.

"Jimmy." She grimaced again.

"That bad, huh?" Jack asked. Elizabeth gave a dry chuckle and shook her head.

"Don't get me started!" Elizabeth joked, starting to walk away. She grinned out of sight as she heard Jack laugh.

_I made _Jack Driscoll _laugh! Oh. My. _God_! _She gave an airy laugh at her own somewhat uncharacteristically girlish thought

Upon reaching her cage, Elizabeth took out the book she was currently reading, a collection of poetry by Alfred Lord Tennyson. She tapped the brown, leather binding lightly, giving a small smile, and searched in her bag for a candle. She found it and its holder and chucked them on the bed then peered inside the gloomy depths of her bag for a box of matches.

"Darn it…" She mumbled as she realised she had packed none.

"Jack?" She called over her shoulder.

"Yes?" Jack asked, his head popping around from a stack of crates, making Elizabeth jump.

"You wouldn't happen to have any matches would you?" She asked him. He shook his head.

"No, sorry." He said apologetically.

"No problem," Elizabeth said with a soft smile, sauntering out of the cage and making her way towards the stairs.

"I'll just go and get some," She told Jack, jumping up the stairs and running her hand along the rail lightly.

Just a few moments later Elizabeth had made her way to the top of the stairs and was just about to head for the galley when an unknown voice hailed her.

"Hallo!" Elizabeth looked over to where the voice had come from, to see a young man, perhaps not much older than herself, waving at her with a smile. Elizabeth ventured a wary smile and nervously headed towards the boy.

"Hello," She said to him, immediately easing as the boy gave her a warm, cheery beam. She looked him over discreetly, taking note of his thick black locks and his jolly, chocolate-coloured eyes.

"Evenin'. You're Elizabeth aren't you?" The boy asked her.

_How does he know that? _The girl wondered to herself.

"Yes. But how did you…?"

"Oh, Jimmy here has told me a lot about you," The boy interjected, gesturing to the all-too-familiar boy that stood by him. Elizabeth could feel the smile draining off her face like water down a drain.

"Oh. Did he?" She asked curtly, her eyes fixed on Jimmy with a cold, unwavering stare.

"Good evening to you too Lizzy," Jimmy said sarcastically, meeting her gaze with his own impenetrable stare. Elizabeth balled her fists and was about to step forward to give him what she considered to be a well deserved punch, when the boy, who still remained anonymous, intervened.

"Now, now." He said kindly. Elizabeth finally broke the unwavering stare she held with Jimmy and looked at the boy, who turned to her with a kindly beam.

"What's a girl like you doing out on a cold night such as this?" Elizabeth felt her cheeks heat up and hoped neither of the boys noticed.

"What a fox…" Elizabeth heard Jimmy mutter sarcastically. Elizabeth shot him a glare before answering the boy's question.

"Um… I'm looking for anyone who has any spare matches… for my candle. I would like to read." She explained.

"Oh, I see. Well, I would give you some if I had any, but I don't." The boy told her in a regretful tone.

"Well, thank you anyway." Elizabeth replied, secretly touched this stranger was showing this much interest in her. It was an understatement to say that she was flattered.

"You're welcome marm."

"Oh please," Elizabeth said raising a hand.

"Call me Elizabeth. That's what all my friends call me."

"Ok…" The boy said distantly, his mouth slightly agape. Elizabeth had the grace to blush once more.

"Good night… um, I'm afraid I haven't caught your name." Elizabeth said, embarrassedly.

"Cyril." He told her with a grin.

"Squirrel!" Jimmy spluttered, feigning a cough. Elizabeth whipped around to give him a cautionary glare. She swiftly turned her attention back to Cyril.

"Good night Cyril." She said warmly.

"Good night mar… err, Elizabeth." He replied nervously. Elizabeth was lightly amused to see that even he gave a slight blush. She gave Cyril a last smile and Jimmy a last frown before turning away to resume her search for matches.

"Good night Lizzy!" She heard Jimmy cry sarcastically after her. She grounded her teeth.

"Keep moving Elizabeth, just ignore the twit." She told herself, firmly. She abruptly turned a sharp corner and promptly banged into a stocky man with dark hair. She stumbled forwards and gave a sigh of relief as the man caught her.

"Whoa there!" He exclaimed. Elizabeth straightened herself and looked up at the man.

"Thank you sir," She said graciously, with a bob of her head.

"Pleas marm, I am Cameron." He said with a smile.

"And this is my brother," He indicated to a wiry man with fair hair who stood beside him.

"Scott." He finished. Scott rushed forward and grasped Elizabeth's hand over-excitedly, shaking it vigorously. Elizabeth felt her eyes widen.

"Nice to meet you," He said, so quickly she could barely distinguish what he was saying. She disentangled her hand from his as discreetly as possible.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to have any matches would you?" She asked the brothers, looking between them quizzically.

"Yes I believe I do," Cameron answered gruffly, searching his pockets.

"Ah!" He exclaimed, taking out a small box. He passed them to Elizabeth.

"Here you go, love." He said kindly, thrusting it into her hand.

"Thank you," Elizabeth said gratefully, with a smile.

"Well, I'm off to bed." She told them.

"Good night."

"Night." The brothers said in unison. With a last smile Elizabeth turned to go back to her 'cabin'.

Moments later she had reached it. She lit the candle beside her bed and opened up her book. She searched for the page she had reached the previous time, the pages rustling welcomingly. Eventually she reached the page and began to read.

"'On either side the river lie  
Long fields of barley and of rye,  
That clothe the world and meet the sky;  
And thro' the field the…'"

Her reading was then interrupted by the thoughts that swirled in her head, which, this day in particular, were being nuisances.

_I doubt Jimmy will ever lend me that book he was talking about now. I probably hurt his feelings too much. Perhaps I should apologise when he comes in. It _was _rather rotten of me to treat him like that I suppose. He is quite… attractive in his own way… wait…._

"Come on! Focus!" Elizabeth snapped at herself angrily, returning her attention to her book. It didn't take her too long to realise she was only reading the same few words over and over again. Angrily she slammed the volume shut and put it on her pillow. Subconsciously she rubbed the part of her arm she had brushed against Jimmy with earlier that day. Making a sound of anger she threw herself off the bed and paced back and forth. She rubbed her eyes wearily, angry that she should have such little control over her cognitive abilities all because of some boy. If someone had told her that she would be in this state just a week ago she would have laughed at them.

Elizabeth crept over to her bed again and laid down on it with a sigh, and closing her eyes, beginning to sing without realising it. Through all the years of hardship, singing had been her only retreat, the only things she could do to take her mind off the pain she was facing.

"O mio Babbino caro,  
Mi piace é bello, bello;  
Vo'andare in Porta Rossa  
A comperar l'anello!"

A smile graced Elizabeth's lips and her fingers curled as she spread herself over the bed. She could almost feel herself floating upwards, carried by her voice which rose ethereally into the air, a white dove flying higher and higher, gently beating its wings as it is carried by cool air currents. She sat up slowly and filled her lungs with air, her voice soaring as she struck a high note. Finally though she reached the end of the aria, singing the end words in a soft, hushed tone:

"Babbo, pietà, pietà!  
Babbo, pietà, pietà!"

Still with that blissful smile on her lips Elizabeth eased her eyes open and promptly jumped as she met the two curious pairs of eyes before her.

**Jimmy**

Jimmy grumbled an oath and slouched over towards the cargo hold. He hadn't been very happy with the advise Lumpy had given him regards Elizabeth, which was in short leave her alone and shut up. As if that wasn't bad enough, Lumpy also shared Cyril's opinion that Jimmy liked Elizabeth.

_And that is the _last _thing I need. _Jimmy thought to himself irritably.

_How can they possibly think that? I don't care whether it's true or if it's not, but I don't want others to think it is. If I…. _Jimmy broke off as he heard singing rising from the cargo hold. He gave a curious frown and headed down the stairs. He squinted into the semi-darkness and made out the form of Elizabeth lying sprawled out on her bed through the bars of her cage. He realised it was her that was singing and he hated to admit it, but she was pretty good…

_Brilliant actually. _He couldn't help thinking. He strained his ears to make out what she was singing, but it seemed to be in another language so he promptly gave up and listened to the sound as he made his way quietly down the steps. He reached the bars of Elizabeth and his' cage and debated whether or not to venture inside. He decided to do so eventually, and no sooner was he inside then the man who Jimmy had learnt was named Jack joined him, his eyes wide and mouth agape.

Jimmy stared at Elizabeth as she slowly sat up, his eyes thoughtful and deep as her voice rang throughout the cargo hold, reverberating slightly, creating a ghostly yet bewitching atmosphere. Jimmy took a breath as the song reached its apogee, Elizabeth's voice soaring higher and higher and again and again, until Jimmy felt as if he was floating, like some celestial being. Jimmy closed his eyes to savour the feeling. Finally Elizabeth reached the final few words. These she sang softly. They felt like soft, white feathers floating down upon Jimmy, as he felt his whole body relax as if he was melting. Eventually the very last note faded away, and Jimmy opened his eyes once more, ignoring the fact that Jack was looking at him quizzically, and once again looked over at Elizabeth. Her eyes opened gradually, and then widened at the sight of Jimmy and Jack. Jimmy gulped. This would either be really good, or really bad…

**Please, please, PLEASE review :) They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)**

**Also, even though I don't own King Kong or any characters/sets within, for paranoia reasons:**

**© LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx 2010**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: And here's another one for you guys! This chapter was absurdly hard to write, so go easy on the reviews XP**

**Please review! I depend on it :)**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! Except Elizabeth, Cameron, Scott and Cyril… Jimmy….. *sob***

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Six: Hitting the Hay**

**Elizabeth**

At first Elizabeth didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or angry about the sudden appearance of the two men that stood on the other side of the cage… angry with Jimmy in any case. It was her own fault that she had forgotten about Jack being in the same room, well… hold as her. She suddenly realised how disheveled Jack's appearance was, his trousers creased and crumpled.

"I didn't wake you up did I?" She asked concernedly, her brow creasing.

"Some things are worth being woken up for." Jack replied, with a smile that quite clearly told Elizabeth how surprised he was of her talent. Not because he had thought that she was lacking intelligence or that she was talentless, but because he hadn't expected anything like that from the girl who had so far proved herself to be fairly reticent. She had certainly proved herself to be a dark horse.

"All the same," Elizabeth said with a slight inclination of her head in way of apology.

"My apologies." She gave a small smile, before fidgeting with the fabric of her trouser, focusing all her attention on a loose thread which she picked distractedly. It wasn't hard to guess that she was uncomfortable with the eyes of the two men glued on her. Jack seemed to sense this fairly soon and left with a clear of his throat and a muttered 'good night'. Elizabeth looked up briefly to give a small wave before looking down at her shoes.

Soon enough, against her will, Elizabeth's eyes travelled along the seams of her trouser, along the grain of the filthy wooden floor, and finally to Jimmy's feet. She screwed her eyes tight shut, took a breath and looked up at his face, biting her lip anxiously. He tore his eyes from the floor and up to her eyes.

"Where did that come from?" The boy asked, still shocked at the unbelievable beauty of Elizabeth's voice.

"What?" Elizabeth asked almost obliviously. Jimmy raised his eyebrows and inclined his head towards the girl.

"Your singing maybe?" He said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Elizabeth felt herself blush and gave a shy smile.

"It's not much." She mumbled quietly, standing up and taking a nightdress from her suitcase. She draped it over her arm, the white, frail, wispy fabric quivering slightly in the draught. She cursed herself for having such impractical clothing.

"'Not much'?" Jimmy echoed incredulously.

"You're brilliant!" He exclaimed. Elizabeth looked at him thoughtfully as if studying his sea blue eyes. She gave a modest blush and smiled a small smile.

"Thanks," She said softly, her heart fluttering for reasons she didn't know… or didn't want to acknowledge. She could almost feel some invisible force gently pulling her forward towards Jimmy, and for a moment, a brief, very brief moment as she gazed into the soft blue depths of the boy's eyes she forgot why she was fighting it. She could almost see herself drifting in the blue of his eyes as if she was drifting on a soft cloud in a sapphire sky.

Jimmy held Elizabeth's gaze evenly, and that's how they stood for a moment, trying to decipher the emotions in each other's eyes and trying to sort out their own. Even Elizabeth, who usually hated silence as it made her regrets and fears sound so much louder, took refuge in the perfect quiet, allowing it to wrap around her, like frail cobwebs. The moment was enchanting, enrapturing. Filling Elizabeth with a curious warmth and joy, but as suddenly as the moment had come it was gone, as Jimmy turned abruptly away, leaving Elizabeth to wonder if she had done something wrong and feeling slightly hurt. She frowned asking herself why she should care. Jimmy didn't matter anyway... Her thoughts were interrupted abruptly.

"You'd better get changed while you have the chance," Jimmy mumbled over his shoulder. Elizabeth took his advice and unbuttoned the shirt, peeling it off of her like a second skin. She donned the nightdress before taking off her trousers.

"Done," She announced quietly, folding her discarded clothes and placing them in a neat pile on top of her suitcase which she had placed by the foot of her bed. Jimmy turned around, staring numbly at his feet. Elizabeth sat on the edge of her bed gnawing at the inside of her mouth, her eyes moving around the room restlessly. Her eyes inevitably rested on Jimmy who was fidgeting restlessly with his hands. He gave a gulp before speaking.

"I, er, don't have, er, pyjamas." Elizabeth stared at him not grasping his meaning. She then realised.

"Ah…. I, er, don't mind," She realised how strange that probably sounded and hurriedly added:

"I mean, er, if it's what you're used to… I'm new so I can't tell you what to do… or what not to do…" She trailed off, feeling a blush come to her cheeks as Jimmy smiled amusedly.

"I know what you meant," He said.

He fidgeted for a few moments with the buttons on his shirt before beginning to undo them. Elizabeth blushed furiously but hid it by lying in her bed and burying her face into her pillow which smelt faintly of mothballs. When she peered out again Jimmy was lying in his bed with his trousers and his shirt draped untidily over the headboard. She stared at him for a rather long moment, her eyes not listening to her orders to look away. Nothing mattered anymore… or so it seemed. Jimmy seemed to have felt her eyes on him because he looked over in her direction. She hurriedly closed her eyes, in a feeble attempt to convince the boy that she was asleep. 

Five hours later, which by Elizabeth's calculation was around one in the morning, and Elizabeth still wasn't asleep. Whether it was homesickness or the unfamiliar swaying motion of the boat or the crash of the waves she didn't know. Irritated that she couldn't get to sleep, Elizabeth threw back the frayed blanket and sat up in her bed, her head in her hands. She ran her fingers through her golden hair tiredly and grabbed the blanket, making her way towards the door of the cage with one last glance at Jimmy. She scurried up the stairs towards the pinpricks of light that shone in the midnight sky. The moon hung motionless in the sky, a pearl from the dress of a deity hanging on a loose thread. Elizabeth inhaled sharply through her nose, the bitter winter air burning her throat and slicing into her lungs. The stars shone clear in the sky, like myriads of myriads of candles, and were reflected in the water which rose and fell rhythmically, soothing Elizabeth's nerves which were even more frayed than the blanket she had wrapped around herself.

_Which really _is _saying something._ Elizabeth thought to herself, gazing with a soft smile at the ragged blanket she clutched to her shoulders. A gust of wind made her shiver and she drew the worn blanket tighter around her shoulders. She leant on the side of the ship and looked out, her gentle, melancholy smile illuminated by an ethereal, milky moon-light.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" A voice whispered in her ear, their voice lowered to a seductive whisper.

Elizabeth bit on the inside of her lip in a conscious effort not to react to the somewhat sensuous voice and their proximity. She tried to be angry at their sudden appearance, but something made it impossible.

"Aren't you cold?" She shook her head.

"No. Aren't you?" She replied, looking at the boy who was now wearing a grey vest and trousers.

"Used to it." The boy leaned on the railing beside her.

"Why _aren't _you in bed?" He persisted irritatingly. Elizabeth gave a small sigh and sat down, leaning back against the railing.

"Well, I don't know. I can't sleep Jimmy, what d'you expect?" There was a pause in which Jimmy sat beside her. His next question was spoken in a hushed voice, falling on Elizabeth's ears like snowflakes in winter.

"Homesick?"

**Jimmy **

'_Homesick'? Why the hell did I bother even asking her that? _Jimmy thought to himself. Mr Hayes had always told him he was too soft, too sympathetic, that he was an innocent, and here he was again, weakened by a girl's need for solace. His breath caught in his throat as Elizabeth looked up at him, with eyes filled with a horrible past and a need to be saved from it, as it dragged her down in a black whirlpool of misery and despair. It was now Jimmy decided that he was only helping her because he knew what it was like to feel yourself drown, to feel as if you want to give up living, and because he knew no matter who the person was he would never be able to stand by and watch someone suffer as memories battered them mercilessly, driving them to the very edge of their sanity, and often over it. Yes… he wasn't helping her because he liked her and certainly not because he loved her. Out of the question…

"Yea… guess I am." She looked away abruptly as her eyes filled with tears.

"Dammit…" Jimmy heard her mumble as she wiped her eyes angrily with the back of her hand. Before he could stop himself, Jimmy spoke again.

"You're allowed to cry you know…" Jimmy cursed himself silently and bit so hard on his tongue he was surprised he did not taste blood. Elizabeth nodded weakly, a nod so slight and so sad that it would be able to tug on the hardest man's heartstrings. It snapped Jimmy's. She looked up at the sky trying to turn her face to such an angle that Jimmy couldn't see the tears that he knew would be trickling over her cheeks.

"There's something else…" He whispered. It wasn't a question.

"You're not only homesick." Elizabeth shook her head.

"I'm just tired and weepy. I'll be fine tomorrow…"

"You sure you'll be okay?" Jimmy placed his hand gently on her shoulder, and was both shocked and hurt when she quickly recoiled away from him as if she had been touched by something evil and foul.

"Please don't touch me there." She said, wrapping her arms around herself protectively, staring at Jimmy with a frightened expression, her eyes like the eyes of a rabbit as it waits for the fox before it to kill it, with a sharp snap of its jaws.

"Thank you for your help Jimmy but I'm… I'm tired… I think I'm gonna try and get to sleep." Elizabeth stuttered before she hurried away down into the cargo hold, like a mouse fleeing from the watchful eyes of an owl.

Jimmy gave a tired sigh and slumped against the railing. He jumped and stood at attention as a gruff German voice hailed him quietly from the shadows.

"Jimmy!"

"Cap'n!"

"At ease," Englehorn said, coming out of the shadows towards Jimmy. He like Jimmy was wearing a vest and trousers and a lit cigarette hung lazily from his lips. He took it from his lips between two long fingers and blew out the smoke in a serpentine cloud. Jimmy wrinkled his nose as the breeze wafted the ghastly, acrid smell of the smoke into his face, burning his nostrils and licking his eyes with a rough, scratchy tongue.

"Girl trouble?" Captain Englehorn asked amusedly, a smile dancing with light steps on his lips. Jimmy frowned.

"You mean… Elizabeth? No sir! Most definitely not sir!" The Captain smiled at Jimmy's adamant denials.

"So… you asked her if she was homesick so you would not feel guilty and could sleep? Is that it?" The older man chuckled at Jimmy's embarrassed expression and tossed the stub of the cigarette into the sea carelessly.

"It's not unnatural for a boy your age to be attracted to a pretty girl like her," Englehorn continued with a twinkle in his eye.

"I am not!" Jimmy replied furiously, and then remembering that he was speaking to the Captain, he added a humble

"... with all due respect, sir."

"You may not think you are… but that's not what onlookers would think."

"We fight all the time!" Jimmy objected, growing tired of having the same argument which practically everyone on the ship. He could practically feel his argument falling flat on its face.

"That's what I'm talking about." Jimmy gave a confused frown.

"Pardon sir?" Englehorn explained.

"The more you say you don't, the more you're saying you do. Fighting with her gets her attention whilst hiding the fact that you have feelings for her." Englehorn smirked.

"A cunning plan…" He observed approvingly. Jimmy shook his head firmly.

"But I _don't_!" He insisted once more, gesturing animatedly.

Captain Englehorn regarded him silently for a moment. He then gave a small shrug.

"Strange… I thought she would be the exact type for you Jimmy." Captain Englehorn opened his hand, examining its dirt-filled creases distractingly.

"Clever, brave, fiery, strong but with a vulnerable side that you can protect and comfort… and of course she is very…" He paused and looked up to gauge the emotion on Jimmy's face. The boy though was looking out of the corner of his eyes to the floor, suddenly taking an immense interest in the splintery wood.

"Beautiful." Englehorn finished, each syllable pouring thickly from his mouth.

Jimmy shot his head up to look at the Captain, who looked back with a mysterious smile. Jimmy suddenly faked a yawn and gave an overdramatic stretch that would have made Carl Denham shake his head in embarrassment.

"Er, I, um, must be getting to bed… 'Tis late. Night Cap'n." Jimmy made his way to the entrance to the cargo hold, focusing on his breathing and trying not to take Captain Englehorn's words into account.

"Jimmy," The boy paused with his hand lying softly on the rail and gave a soft sigh before turning to face his Captain. The Captain gave him a small smile.

"Your secret is safe with me."

**Elizabeth**

Elizabeth almost tripped down the stairs to the hold because of her speed. She ran straight for the cage and for once was glad of the dark, gloomy confines of the hold as she slammed the door to the cage closed and fell back against it, closing her eyes and breathing in quick shallow breaths. Her thoughts were jumbled around and rushing back and forth in a blur of emotion and panic. She forced herself to breathe more calmly, timing her breath to come in and out in time with the sound of the sea sucking against the sides of the ship. She felt herself slip down the rusty bars of the cages and land on her bottom with a dull thud. Fear thudded in her chest, bruising her ribcage with violent blows. Elizabeth almost expected to hear the snap of her bones as Fear's powerful strikes broke them in two.

_Fear? _She asked herself.

_Fear of _what_? _Elizabeth shook her head and got to her feet, smoothing down her crumpled nightdress. She jumped as footsteps echoed in the hold and hurriedly scrambled into bed just as Jimmy descended into the hold. She peeked through her half closed eyes at the rather nervous looking boy who was removing his trousers and clambering into bed with a soft sigh. Elizabeth had intended to stay up a little more, if just to gaze at the stars through the gaps in-between the bars of the various cages, but soon she felt herself drifting into a deep, dreamless sleep.

**I'm not fully satisfied with this chapter... I don't know why…**

**PLEASE REVIEW :) I know it was a short chapter but I was overrun with homework :) The next one will be longer :)**

**Also, even though I don't own King Kong or any characters/sets within, for paranoia reasons:**

**© LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx 2010**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: And another chapter for your enjoyment :) Please review… and I will give you… a COOKIE :D Brilliant, eh? **

**And I've read some people on other KK fanfics go on 'Well, I wrote this because it was annoying me how unrealistic other Jimmy/OC fanfics were, and…' blah blah blah. And I would just like to say that if one of those people are reading this story and think it's unrealistic (and even I think that about my story at times) and find it annoying, I'm afraid that's tough. I enjoy writing it, people enjoy reading it (I hope :D), it's a good deal more realistic then **_**Twilight**_**, and most importantly, when it comes to my stories, I make my own reality. Also, if you don't like my story, you don't have to read it… I'm just sayin'.**

**Sorry for the rant. That was just really bugging me…**

**Thank you to all who have reviewed! *deep announcer voice* AND YOU ARE:**

**KenzieMarz, KenzieMars and R i v e r B l e u. HERE ARE COOKIES FOR YOU ALL! *a shower of cookies descends.**

**Thanks especially to KenzieMars (My computer autocorrected your name to Enzymes XD (Are you the same person as KenzieMarz by the way? *granny voice* I'm old, and easily confused ;D Actually I'm not that old :D )) for requesting I write more Elizabeth and Jimmy moments… because I really enjoy them ;D I've got a few in here for you, hope you enjoy them ;)**

**Disclaimer: I only own Elizabeth, Cameron, Scott, Cyril and Elizabeth's cow of a Mum. If you haven't grasped that by now then… well… ;)**

**Chapter Seven: "Heard Enough?"**

**Jimmy**

Jimmy's eyes opened and with a tired, lopsided smile he stretched underneath his blankets, feeling warm and cosy as he did every morning. He felt he could have stayed there all day, but instead he pushed himself into a sitting position with the assistance of his elbows and after a moment, swung his legs out of bed onto the rough floorboards. He stood up and looked around the cargo hold. His eyes travelled along the bars of his cage, then down to the grains of the wooden floor before travelling up one of the legs of Elizabeth's bed, along the creases in her blanket and finally to her face. She looked troubled, even in sleep. Her brow was creased and her lips were pursed. Her golden hair fell across the white nightdress and her shoulders like spun gold.

Jimmy gulped as he remembered the occurrences of the previous night and what the good Captain had said to him. It was then he realised that she was shivering. In the night she had somehow managed to kick at her blanket until it was in a bunch at her feet. Jimmy went over to her, walking as if in a daze. He was barely aware of what he was doing as he pulled up the blankets to her shoulders. The backs of his fingers brushed against the paper-thin fabric of her nightdress. He gulped and tried not to think of how angelic and frail it had made her look the previous night.

_But Lord she looked good in it… _Jimmy shook his head, wondering what was the name of the tiny demon that was making him think such things. All the same, he found himself reaching out and caressing her shoulder. Her skin was the colour of Devonshire cream, and was so soft, and smooth…

Jimmy abruptly stopped and yanked his hand away before turning his back on her and heading over to his side of the room. He grabbed his clothes off his bed and changed. He then staggered out of the cage and up the stairs to the light and fresh air above.

Just a few moments later he was sitting in the galley, eating Lumpy's famous porridge à la walnuts out of a wooden bowl. It still tasted pretty foul to him, but you got used to it after a while… more or less.

"Oi!"

Jimmy looked up towards the door of the galley where the very familiar voice had hailed him from. He couldn't help grinning, despite the fact that the last meeting between he and his friend had ended in little more than irritation and anger.

"Squirrel!" Jimmy exclaimed. Cyril rolled his eyes, his mop of black curls falling over them.

"See?" He said. "You can't act as if I'm the only one that uses annoying nicknames." Jimmy scoffed.

"So…" Cyril began, grabbing a bowl of cooling porridge and sitting himself in front of Jimmy. "How's life?"

"Pretty darn rotten," Jimmy replied. Cyril grinned.

"And why's that I wonder? Because of a certain blonde vixen by any chance?" Jimmy pursed his lips and frowned. Cyril's grin grew until you could count almost every single one of his shining white teeth. He shovelled another spoonful of porridge into his mouth.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," he said through a mouthful of porridge. He swallowed it down and carried on, despite Jimmy's discomfort.

"Have you woke her up then yet?"

"Er… no…" Cyril clicked his tongue.

"Tut tut, you can't let your emotions get in the way of your duty." He said sardonically. Jimmy rolled his eyes. Cyril abruptly leaned forward. His eyes flickered to Lumpy, who was making a good din whilst washing the dishes, before he spoke.

"Word is you were with Elizabeth on the deck last night," Cyril began in a hushed voice. Jimmy blushed and his eyes widened. Cyril smirked, his brown eyes twinkling.

"That's a yes then. Talking about homesickness, was it?" Jimmy didn't reply, but instead rebuffed with his own question.

"Who told you?"

"Choy."

Jimmy clenched his fists. "Dammit…" He muttered. Cyril smirked.

"Oh, aye. It's common knowledge by now," Lumpy's hoarse voice said. Both boys jumped. They hadn't known the older sailor had heard them talking. Jimmy groaned and let his head fall backwards, hitting the back of the chair with a dull thud. Lumpy grinned and finished wiping the last dish before grabbing something off of one of the units.

"What did you talk about anyway?" Cyril asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Nothing…" Jimmy said, blushing a rosy red and taking a great interest in the grey-ish remains of his porridge.

"Your blush says otherwise," Lumpy said with a smirk. Even he seemed like he wanted to know what had happened the previous night. Jimmy scowled at him, before sighing.

"Fine… I just asked why she was up, she said she couldn't sleep. I asked her if she was homesick, she said she supposed so, then she went in."

"And what did the Captain say?" Cyril asked as Lumpy lowered himself heavily onto a chair, a filthy cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Jimmy looked at Cyril sharply.

"How do you… I suppose Choy told you that too?" Jimmy asked, frowning. Cyril smiled knowingly.

"_That _I will _not _tell you," Jimmy said, firmly. He got to his feet, amid Cyril's high-pitched protests, and so did Lumpy. He handed the boy a plate he had been holding in his hands.

"Lambs brains in walnut sauce, for out resident screenwriter," He said, balancing his cigarette on his bottom lip. Jimmy smirked.

"I'll give it to him, don't you worry," And off Jimmy went as fast as he could. He didn't relish being in there with Cyril and his curiosity.

Jimmy headed over to the stairs to the cargo hold and headed down them. He supposed he'd better wake up Elizabeth. She didn't have the luxury of sleeping in anymore. Balancing the plate in his hand he made his way over to her bed, debating on how to wake her up. He had just about decided to yell in her face, when her eyes flickered open. Jimmy gave an evil smile. He prepared himself to do something he was sure she wouldn't be happy with, and in just a few brief seconds, he wondered whether he was doing it to annoy her, to, as Captain Englehorn had said, 'get her attention' whilst hiding the fact that he felt something towards her, or to quite simply, touch her again.

**Elizabeth**

Elizabeth awoke slowly, a few rays of golden sunlight somehow finding it's way through the forest of cages and falling upon her face gently, like the kiss of falling blossom. She snuggled up more in the worn blankets before giving a small screech as an unseen hand tickled her in the ribs.

"Wake up sleepy head! Lord, I thought you were dead." Jimmy stated with a grin. She gave him a sour frown. If there were two things she hated, it was mornings and being tickled. _Especially _being tickled. _Especially _when she was being tickled by a certain boy. A certain boy whose name began with a 'J'….

"Ugh… go away…" She mumbled, and was about to pull the covers over her head when Jimmy grabbed them and threw them onto the floor. She opened her mouth to protest but Jimmy interjected

"No can do, you're lucky I let you stay up _this_ late! You have got _work _to do now, you know!" Elizabeth sat up, rolled her eyes and gave a groan before spotting the plate of food that Jimmy held. He tipped it forward for her to get a closer look.

"Oh my God!" Elizabeth pulled away making a face of disgust. She felt decidedly sick. The girl swallowed back the sour tasting bile that was coming up her throat.

"What _is _that?"

"Lambs brains in walnut sauce," Jimmy said, his eyes dancing with laughter. Elizabeth's eyes widened.

"Wait… that's not… that's not _my _breakfast is it?" She asked fearfully, gazing with something akin to terror at the pinkish-grey 'food'.

"Me, me, me… it always has to be about you, don't it princess?" Jimmy asked with a sardonic smile. Elizabeth frowned at him angrily.

"No, it's not _your _breakfast. You don't have a nursemaid anymore darling." Jimmy's voice was quite condescending, as he patted her cheek as if she was a little girl. Elizabeth slapped his hand away sharply. Jimmy only laughed.

"No, this is for Mr Driscoll." Elizabeth's eyes widened again.

"You're joking? You can't make Jack eat _that_! It's barely _edible_! In fact, I doubt it's edible _at all_!" Jimmy only gave an airy laugh and left the cage, heading to Jack's enclosure.

"Compliments of the chef." Elizabeth heard Jimmy say, before she heard Jack react with a similar reaction as Elizabeth had upon seeing the poor man's sorry excuse for a breakfast.

"Oh Christ – Oh God!"

"Lambs brains in walnut sauce." Elizabeth could almost hear the smirk in Jimmy's voice. She shivered and retched once more before getting to her feet. They still felt heavy with sleep, as did every other part of her. The girl squealed as the boat swayed with the roll of the waves. She fell into the space between her bed and the wall and huffed unhappily.

"Jimmy!" She jumped at the sound of her father's voice and then remained sitting paralysed on the floor, squeezing her eyes shut.

_Not him… anyone but him… Well… anyone but Captain Englehorn…_

"You run those ropes up on deck like I told you?" He asked the boy gruffly, his voice past her now, coming from where Jimmy and Jack were talking.

"Doing it now, Mr Hayes." Jimmy replied, his voice quivering almost unnoticeably. Elizabeth got up and tiptoed to the corner of the cage by the door, where she could peer through the bars at the goings on. She wrapped her fingers gently around one of the bars and strained her ears. She saw Hayes - _I've got to stop thinking of him as 'Hayes' _- bar Jimmy's way and grab his loose clothing.

"How about you return Mr Driscoll's pen first?" _That's not what you call a '_question_' _thought Elizabeth to herself. Jimmy grimaced, and dropped the pen (that Elizabeth hadn't noticed) onto the floor. He then scampered off, glowering at Elizabeth as he passed the cage, as if to say 'Stop snooping and get out of there! Go on, get out!'

When Jimmy had gone Mr Hayes picked up the pen.

"He don't mean no harm," He said, passing the pen to Jack who thanked him. Elizabeth closed her eyes and strained her ears. Hayes' voice was quite low as he spoke to Jack.

"I'll keep him out of your way," Hayes continued.

"It's okay," Jack replied compliantly.

"It's just that he likes it down here," Elizabeth caught a whiff of animal urine and wrinkled her nose. _He _likes _it down _here_? God, Jimmy, you're madder than I thought…_

"It's where I found him four years ago," This caught Elizabeth's interest and she strained even harder to catch Hayes' words.

"Stowed away in one of them back cages," Hayes looked at the cages on the far side of the room, as if they were whispering to him, reminding him of how he'd found Jimmy.

"His arm was broken in two places. He was wilder than half the animals in here. Still won't tell me where he came from." Hayes turned back to Jack with a grave expression on his face.

"But it wasn't anyplace good." Jack looked as if he was about to say something but Hayes left before he could, muttering a hasty 'good morning' over his shoulder as he went past Elizabeth's cage. He - thankfully - didn't notice the girl, who was still in the corner of the cage, too shocked to move. She pressed a hand to her lips. She was trembling violently and her face was ghostly white. Her eyes were glassy, as she imagined Hayes having to coax a half-mad, half-dead Jimmy out of a cage. Four years ago. Back then Jimmy had to have been… sixteen? Perhaps fifteen, or maybe even fourteen perhaps! Hayes' words echoed in her head.

_Wilder than half the animals in here… Broken in two places… Wasn't anyplace good…_

Elizabeth got to her feet, if a little unsteadily. Her legs felt dead and numb. Her face was still pale and her eyes were still glazed from hearing those things about Jimmy. She wouldn't have guessed he had had problems in the past. Never. Not in a thousand years would she have had the slightest inkling he had had a past as bad, if not worse, as hers. Unexpectedly, she found herself feeling sorry for him, even angry at whoever caused him that much pain. She leaned against the wall with one hand for support. _Not Jimmy. Anyone but Jimmy. _She thought. It was no use. What was will going to do to the past? Nothing, was the simple answer.

"Heard enough?"

Elizabeth raised her head to look at the speaker, who was stood in the doorway.

"Jimmy… I…" Her voice was croaky. The boy was a vivid red, and his eyes were clouded with anger.

"Are you angry?" Elizabeth asked unnecessarily.

"No, I'm not angry," Jimmy answered in a low voice. "I'm furious!" His voice had suddenly got much louder as he headed towards the girl. She backed away until she felt the cold wall behind her. Fright constricted her. She had never seen anyone as angry before, except perhaps Paul, but even that was a close thing. And if Paul had done what he did to her when he was as angry as Jimmy was now, - Elizabeth touched the scar on her leg through her nightdress - what would Jimmy do? Jimmy stayed a few feet away.

"With me?" The girl's voice was pitifully small.

"With you! With Mr Hayes! No matter how close we are, he can't just go around telling people about me and my past! And you! You shouldn't have been eavesdropping!"

"You wouldn't have told me, would you?" Jimmy seemed thrown by her detached voice.

"What? No! Of course not! If my past had happened to _you_, you wouldn't have told _me_ either!"

_Yes, I would. _The unspoken thought hung in the stale air. Jimmy closed his eyes and sighed and after a moment he reopened his eyes and closed the distance between them.

"Sorry I yelled at you…" He wasn't angry anymore. Just sad. Painfully sad. Pitifully sad, and pitifully small. Lost. Afraid. On impulse, Elizabeth reached out and held his hand. She rubbed what she hoped were soothing circles into his palm with her thumb.

"I know what it's like to have a past you don't want to share," She began quietly. Jimmy was looking at their joined hands with a mixture of disbelief… and something else that Elizabeth couldn't put her finger on. It made her feel… curiously… warm. And that was the only way to describe it.

Before she had a chance to think twice, Elizabeth threw herself at Jimmy and wrapped her skinny little arms around his waist. She wasn't tall enough to put her chin on his shoulder, so she settled for laying her cheek against his chest. She rarely let people do this, hold her, ever since, what she referred to as, the incident with Robert. Thinking about it almost made her cry and shiver all over again. She pushed those thoughts to the side, though heaven knew that was hard to do. The emotional scars Paul and Robert had left on her were hard to smooth over.

"I'm here for you… I mean, you're not alone," Elizabeth said, somewhat nervous as to what his reaction would be.

"And I don't want you to think you are alone, because no-one deserves that." She breathed in deeply. Being even that close to someone, both physically and emotionally, was a test for her strength. She forced herself to stand still, even when Jimmy gently placed his hands warily on her back. She supposed he was as frightened as she was of letting someone in. Here it was… the fear again. Like last night's, only stronger.

_Last night…_ Elizabeth shook her head. She didn't know whether that was a good memory or a bad one, she only knew that she didn't want it around at that moment.

It was ridiculous really. She had known Jimmy for even less than twenty-four hours, and yet it felt like twenty-four months. How could you feel _anything _for someone you had only known for less than a day? Elizabeth didn't know, but she _did _know that life was like that sometimes. It made it's own rules. She also didn't understand how emotions can change to and fro from hatred and… well, love, she supposed, in a space of a few hours, or minutes even. She supposed life did that too. Perhaps the hatred had never been there. Perhaps it had just been an illusion. Perhaps she had only been taking everything out on Jimmy. When she thought about it, that didn't seem too unlikely, especially when you considered her temperament and what she had been through, but after a while, she tried not to think about anything. Because at that moment, it didn't matter. Only one thing mattered. She was holding him, and he hadn't pulled away yet.

**Jimmy **

'_Are you angry?' Is she being serious?_

"No, I'm not angry, I'm furious!" Jimmy's loud voice resounded in his head, and he hated it. It was angry and frightening. He didn't want to be angry and frightening. He hated how he felt, as if he was coated in a sticky, piping hot substance. Elizabeth backed up to the wall as he approached her. She looked frightened, and was staring at him as if he was someone else. He didn't want to frighten her. He didn't want her to feel as if he was a stranger. He wanted to stop yelling, to make her laugh or even make her slap him, but he couldn't stop. He wanted to stand before her as Jimmy, not a stranger, but he couldn't stop yelling, and he couldn't stop feeling angry, and he couldn't stop being someone else.

"With me?" Elizabeth's voice was quiet. It broke his heart. It shouldn't be like this. He shouldn't be yelling. She shouldn't be looking at him with fear in her eyes, she shouldn't be wondering who he was. He should be laughing and teasing. She should be giggling and scolding.

"With you! With Mr Hayes! No matter how close we are, he can't just go around telling people about me and my past! And you! You shouldn't have been eavesdropping!"

"You wouldn't have told me, would you?" Her voice was even further away, so far away it couldn't seem to hear his yelling, so it was uncharacteristically calm. Fear still raged in her eyes. He was confused by her voice.

"What? No! Of course not! If my past had happened to _you_, you wouldn't have told me either!" He was just saying that. She would. He knew she would. And he knew she was thinking that right now.

With his anger spent, Jimmy sighed and closed his eyes to the world. He stayed like that for a few moments before he opened his eyes and shortened the distance between them.

"Sorry I yelled at you," he said. He had stopped yelling, he had stopped being angry. But he still wasn't Jimmy. He was someone distressed, someone confused, someone scared. Not Jimmy. Someone else.

But suddenly, a small, warm hand was holding his and stroking it. It was Elizabeth's hand.

"I know what it's like to have a past you don't want to share," He heard Elizabeth's voice say, as he looked at their interlaced hands in incredulity. He felt something else. Something like gratitude, something like friendship… something like love. But then she wasn't holding his hand anymore. She was hugging him and resting her cheek on his chest. And he was afraid. And she was afraid too. He knew because he could feel her fragile heart beating far too quickly under her nightdress and under her skin.

He was afraid of letting her become part of his heart. He was afraid of letting her know about him. He was afraid that this was going too quickly. After all, they had only met yesterday. He was sure she was thinking the same thing.

"I'm here for you… I mean, you're not alone," Elizabeth said. She sounded nervous. And Jimmy was nervous too. And he was positive that she knew.

"And I don't want you to think you are alone, because no-one deserves that." Jimmy closed his eyes, and tried to ignore the frantic _thump, thump _of his heart and the _thump, thump _of hers, and he put his hands on her back. He realised how small and frail she felt. Both of his hands almost spanned her entire back. A droplet of water fell in her golden hair, like a diamond. And another, and another. It took a while for Jimmy to realise that they were his tears. There were tears in her hair. There were diamonds in gold. He couldn't stop crying. It wasn't a loud sound. It was perfectly silent. He buried his head in Elizabeth's hair. She smelt of lavender and roses. He was frightened. He had let her in. It was too late to run away now. Had he done the right thing? Should he have let her in? Would she break him like he had been broken before? He didn't know. And at that moment, it didn't matter. Only one thing mattered. He was holding her, and she hadn't pulled away yet.

**Sorry it was a bit short. I'm working on the next one :)**

**I COMPLETELY, UTTERLY LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED WRITING THAT HUGGING SCENE (even though it will probably lead to complications *light bulb over head* *evil laugh*)! :D I know it was completely unrealistic or whatevz, but it was so fun to write ^_^ I sure hope you guys enjoyed it :D I'm sure you did, 'cause I'm so fantabulous…. Not :P I'm sort of in a 'Yay! Let's down Tor!' mood so I could do with some nice reviews to cheer me up :) Please?**

**Also, even though I don't own King Kong or any characters/sets within, apart from my own, for paranoia reasons:**

**© LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx 2010-2011**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm ba-a-ack :D AND I'M SO ANNOYED RIGHT NOW 'COS I WROTE OUT THIS CHAPTER AND NOW IT SAYS IT'S CORUPT AND BLEH! /end caps lock. Argh… *hyperventilates* **

**ANYWHO! I really enjoyed writing *cough* a *cough* particular *cough* part *cough* of *cough* this chapter ^^ I'm sure you guys'll guess what bit *blushes***

**Anyway, hope you enjoy! And keep those reviews coming! I really appreciate it :D A massive thanks to everyone that has reviewed! THEY BEING!:**

**Kinkajous17: Thank you! And yessir!**

**QuietPoetic: Thank you so much ^^ Haha, everyone loves Jamie ;D Apart from my Mum, but... you know what? Never mind... XD**

**cmssportzgrl: Awwww thank you so much ^_^ I'm so glad you liked it :D Thanks for the encouragment, I needed it lol XD No no no! Please review :D I LOVED your review :D Thank you!**

**KenzieMarz: Aha, of course I did ;D Thank you ^_^ XD No worries, I've heard weirder ;D **

**R i v e r B l e u: Man, I LOVE your reviews! They make me so happy!*sniffle* Aww, I'm so glad you liked it :D I liked writing it ^^ XDXDXD Aha, glad I surprised you ;D XD No, but Jimmy and Elizabeth should be... MUAHAHA! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to (AHAHA… jargon :P… not that I know if 'rights' is the right term, but.) King Kong or anything associated with it. I do not own the rights to the novel 'White Fang'. I **_**do **_**own Elizabeth. I don't own Jimmy… ;'( Please, can I just… **_**borrow **_**him for weekends?**

**Chapter Eight: Reading and Ann Darrow**

**Elizabeth**

After a little while Elizabeth let go of Jimmy as she slowly began to realise what she had done. She had broken the unspoken rules of their friendship, which was rather up and down in the first case. She had _held _him. She had known him for under s day and she had _held _him. She had ruined everything. It would be so awkward now.

Elizabeth glanced up at Jimmy who had stepped back a few paces. Any other day she would have laughed at the blush which bloomed over his cheeks, but today she realised that she was indubitably as red as a tomato herself.

"Well!" She exclaimed.

"Well…" Jimmy echoed. "I've got to, er, sort out the, er, the um…" He jerked his thumb up the stairs as he talked. Elizabeth nodded, her gaze glued to the floor.

"Yes, the… er… the um… yes, you do that, then," she stuttered nervously.

"Alright. Yes… yes I'll… er… bye!" He scurried off, stumbling nervously up the stairs.

Elizabeth, thoroughly anxious and annoyed with herself, hoisted on her trouser underneath her nightdress, then whipped the nightwear off and buttoned on her shirt. She padded around in her stocking clad feet, looking for her plimsolls which she had somehow misplaced.

"Knock, knock?" A familiar voice said, out of sight to the right of the cage.

"Come in," Elizabeth said with a faint smile, groping in the damp darkness under her bed and hoping, or rather praying, that no spiders lurked there.

"Hullo, Jack," she greeted the man who entered with a gentle smile. He put his thumbs in his trouser pockets.

"I heard shouting," he told the girl. She stared at him intensely, before standing up.

"Are you asking what I was shouting about, or…?" She asked.

"Well," Jack said with an amused smile. "That _was_ the idea, but… if you don't want to tell me…" Elizabeth spied her plimsolls sitting dejectedly in the corner and went over to them, picking them up and staring at them in thought. She eventually shrugged.

"Does it matter?" She asked Jack. "It's over now."

"Then I suppose it doesn't." A pause. "Was it Jimmy?" Elizabeth felt herself blush.

"Yes… yes it was," She mumbled.

"He's the one you said you don't like?"

"Yes… why?" Jack shrugged.

"You don't…" He trailed off awkwardly. "I guess…" He shrugged. Elizabeth raised a brow and with a sigh slipped on her plimsolls. She bit her lip.

"I guess I like him more than I thought I did…" She admitted, looking at Jack through her lashes. Jack smiled and nodded.

"I noticed." Elizabeth felt the colour drain from her face.

"Oh, gosh… it's written all over my face isn't it?" She asked worriedly. Jack laughed a little.

"Relax. It's not. I just… being a writer, I observe a lot I guess. The girl that's learned to harden her heart so in protection snaps at the boy she hates to admit she loves, the boy that irritates the girl so she doesn't know he loves her…" Elizabeth looked up sharply at this.

"I guess it's really something you read in romance novels rather than something that actually happens in reality," Jack mused. Elizabeth ignored his comment.

"You think Jimmy…?" She gave a small gulp. Jack nodded. Elizabeth sucked in a breath through her nose and closed her eyes before – _whoosh _– the air came out of her like that from a balloon. She opened her eyes. Jack met her gaze curiously.

"You look afraid," he observed worriedly. Elizabeth laughed shakily and ran a trembling hand through her golden hair.

"I am, to be honest," she said honestly, retrieving a book from her trunk and flicking through the pages absentmindedly before tucking it into her belt.

"I understand," Jack said in a comforting brotherly manner. Elizabeth straightened up, shaking her head slowly.

"No… you don't." Jack gave a small confused frown and was about to reply but Elizabeth spoke before he could.

"Are you going out on deck?"

"Maybe in a little while, I –"

"Alright. I guess I'll see you later then. Bye!" She left before the man could stop her.

Once outside, the wind made Elizabeth's hair flutter like golden tassels on a curtain in a draught. She saw Jimmy doing something with some ropes – or was it a net? She couldn't tell from this distance – and was about to head over to him when she saw Hayes talking to him. Elizabeth's heart let in her mouth and she felt her lip quivering. She narrowed her eyes and abruptly turned and headed in the other direction, to the kitchen – or did they call them something else on ships? – for something to eat. She reckoned that as long as she stayed away from Lumpy's cooking (which was famous for all the wrong reasons) she should survive the rest of the day.

"Wilkinson," Elizabeth turned sharply at the sound of the Captain's voice.

"Captain, I was just looking for the, er, the… oh! The galley!" Elizabeth felt herself blush and added a hasty 'sir'. Englehorn gave an amused smirk and told her the directions.

"Thank you, sir," she said appreciatively.

"We'll have to find you some work, Wilkinson," Englehorn said, letting a cloud of smoke spout from his lips as her lowered his cigarette. Elizabeth resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose.

"Yessir," she said automatically. Englehorn scrutinised her.

"How are you getting on with the crew?" He asked after a moment.

"Fine, sir," Elizabeth replied.

"No more trouble with Jimmy?" Elizabeth's heart fluttered unexpectedly.

"Trouble, sir?" _How does he know about that? _

"I heard you were of conflicting natures," Englehorn explained blankly.

"Well, yes, but it's fine now. We reached a… well, an understanding... sir." _Darn, I've got to remember that _'sir'.

"Very good." Englehorn stared at her a few more seconds before abruptly turning and walking away. Elizabeth stared after him, an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach. She gave a shiver before heading to the galley.

The first thing Elizabeth noticed when she entered the galley was Jack approaching a blonde haired woman who had her back to him and was conversing with a man who looked decidedly uncomfortable. The Denham fellow, or whatever his name was, stood by awkwardly, trying to get the blonde's attention.

"…I was just afraid you would be one of those self-obsessed literary types," the blonde woman was saying to the man Elizabeth didn't recognise.

"I'm sorry, I'm not…" the man tried to say but the woman interrupted him.

"You know, the tweedy twerp with his nose in his book and his head up his…" Elizabeth jumped as Jack, who was now in quite close proximity to the blonde woman, slammed the book her was reading closed. The woman turned and for the first time Elizabeth saw her face: pretty, with twinkling blue eyes, a nice smile, which almost immediately dropped from her face as she looked at Jack.

"It's nice to meet you too, Miss Darrow," Elizabeth heard Jack say dryly. After mumbling a few incoherent words 'Miss Darrow' left, with a rosy blush staining her cheeks. Elizabeth stepped to the side to let her pass, grinning amusedly. She headed up beside Jack who was examining some, what Elizabeth presumed was, food that lay on a table.

"What was that all about?" She asked curiously. Jack glanced up at her. His voice was strained.

"I don't want to talk about it."

**Jimmy**

Having finished his chores for the moment Jimmy, 'Heart of Darkness' stowed in his belt, climbed nippily up the rope that lead to the crow's nest. He reached the top and sat down, sighing as he stared out at the clear blue sky. Seafowl flew over head and ripples danced in the sea. Jimmy smiled to himself and took out his book. He carefully opened it at the page he had slipped his bookmark (a strip off of one of his own shirts) into. He had just started reading when he caught the swaying movement of the rope in the corner of his eye. He leaned through the gaps in the railing and saw a person with a mass of golden hair starting the climb to the crow's nest. Jimmy let out a groan and leant back against the pole.

_Why? _He asked himself, closing his eyes. After a space of time which seemed both torturously slow and irritatingly fast the boy heard Elizabeth's voice.

"Oh, sorry, I'll go…" Jimmy's eyes snapped open.

"No. No it's ok." He said far too quickly than was wise.

"I can go if you want," Elizabeth said, trying to hide how out of breath she was.

"No. Just stay."

"Alright..." Looking somewhat shocked the girl lowered herself down to sit. For a brief moment her hand rested on top of his as she lowered herself down onto her bottom.

"Oh, sorry…" she muttered apologetically.

"It's alright…" Jimmy replied, hoping she couldn't hear his heart throb. She made herself comfortable and out of the corner of his eyes he could see her shifting and occasionally stealing glances at him from the corner of her eyes.

'_She treats you like mud for the same reason you treat her like mud'_ – _Damn, not now! – Did Cyril _mean_ that when he said it?_

Jimmy stood up, fidgeting nervously and wringing his hands. He abruptly clamped them on the railing. Elizabeth picked at a loose thread on her shirt and then brought out a book and started to read it. Jimmy stared at her out of the corner of his eye. He watched her hands; each time she turned a page she seemed to caress it. Her hair fell around her face like a golden sweet-scented veil, and when Jimmy closed his eyes and listened hard enough he could hear her reading in an undertone.

_Tssk._

She had turned another page. Jimmy didn't have to open his eyes to see that. The sound of a book's page being turned was unmistakable.

Suddenly the boy couldn't take the silence anymore. It allowed him to think too freely. It allowed him to think of the smell of her hair, and the soft touch of her skin, and the way she slotted perfectly against his body, and the way her nightdress floated around her, making her look celestial.

"What you reading?" He asked. Elizabeth held the book up in such a way that he could read the front cover.

"'White Fang'… any good?"

"I've not really developed an opinion on it yet," said Elizabeth. "Oddly enough I'm having trouble getting into it." She looked at him pointedly.

"Oh… sorry," Jimmy said apologetically. Elizabeth gave a half-smile and returned her gaze to her book. Jimmy lowered himself to the ground and leaned against the railing, taking off his hat and hooding it in his lap so it would not fall. He drummed his fingers idly on the floor. He stared at Elizabeth as she read, and she must have felt it, because she shifted uncomfortably as if it was unnerving her. Jimmy gave a soft smile as she made an irritated exclamation when her hair fell in front of her eyes. She brushed it back irritably.

"You're a fast reader," Jimmy commented as she turned another page.

"Mm…" Elizabeth hummed, only half-listening.

"Lizzy?"

"It's Elizabeth," So she _had _been listening after all! "And yes?"

"I need to ask you something…" He hesitated. After all, he didn't really _want _to ask her… it was more a matter of _need_. He _needed _to know. He grimaced as she tensed and slowly closed the book. She looked up at him.

"Yes?" Her voice was sharp but at the same time worried.

"Did that… Did the… What happened earlier… that didn't… it didn't _mean _anything, did it?" Elizabeth took a breath and squared her shoulders.

"No, of course not," She said. "Why would it?"

"Well… I just thought…"

"Jimmy, it's not like we had sex, I mean, we didn't kiss or anything! I just… you looked miserable, and I hate seeing miserable people."

"Oh. Ok." A vague feeling of disappointment floated through Jimmy's mind. Elizabeth gave a nod and opened her book again with a light shiver. Jimmy wondered why; it wasn't even cold. Again came the silence, playing tricks on his mind, making him think of holding her… even worse, making him want to hold her again. He felt his muscles twitch as if pulling him towards her.

"I feel as if I've known you forever," he blurted. He could have bit his tongue off there and then. Elizabeth looked up in surprise.

"Well…" she said. "I guess… I guess I… I guess I feel the same about you…" She blushed and lowered her gaze back down to her book embarrassedly.

**Elizabeth**

Elizabeth felt her heart pound in her chest as she lied to him. No. No of course what happened didn't mean anything, she just didn't like to see people upset, that was all, and there was nothing else to it.

"Oh. Ok." Jimmy murmured. There was something in his voice… disappointment? No, ridiculous… but why had he asked? Was it because he felt something or was it because he knew that _she _did? Elizabeth shivered at this thought as she lowered her gaze to her book. She found she couldn't concentrate; the words just wouldn't sink in. Stubbornly, though, she kept her gaze on the book, trying to make sense of the black ink typed across the page. There was silence again, which was kind of good but was also kind of bad. Good because there was no chance for her to make a Freudian slip or drop her guard and make a revealing statement, but bad because you could think more in silence. You could think about how happy the boy near you made you feel, or how he made you laugh, or how cute he was, or how he held you as if you were the most precious thing in the world. Or you could think about how he smelt of sea, of fresh air, of freedom, and how his eyes were the bluest blue you had ever seen – enough! That was quite enough of – Elizabeth's thoughts were interrupted.

"I feel as if I've known you forever." As soon as he said it, Jimmy looked like a man looks when he just realises that he has accidentally swallowed poison.

"Well…" Elizabeth paused, her heartbeat thundering in her ears. "I guess… I guess I… I guess I feel the same about you…" She looked down at her book hurriedly, feeling her face heat up.

A few minutes of silence passed, and just when Elizabeth thought Jimmy had shut up for good…

"Read to me." Elizabeth looked up at the young man.

"Pardon me?" She asked, a little shocked.

"I want to see how good you are," Jimmy said.

"Er… Alright." Elizabeth turned back to page one and began to read.

"'Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost, and they seemed to lean toward each other, black and ominous, in the fading light. A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness.'" Soon enough Elizabeth fell into the rhythm of reading, wrapped up in the world of the printed page, comforted by the words that tumbled from her lips so effortlessly, naturally rising and falling in pitch and volume. She stopped at the end of the first paragraph. Jimmy was staring at her with something akin to awe. He stared at her as if in a spell… a spell that Elizabeth broke by thrusting the book at him. He stared at it, puzzled.

"Eh?" He asked.

"Your turn," Elizabeth replied simply.

"I'm not good at reading."

"I'm sure you're fine." Jimmy gave a sigh and relented, taking the book and scanning the page for where he should start reading. He found it.

"'But there _was life_, abroad in the land and def… def...'" Elizabeth peered over his shoulder at the book.

"Defiant," she said, in barely a whisper, looking sideways at Jimmy in a sort of wonder.

"Er… defiant… er, 'Down the frozen waterway toiled a string of wolfish dogs. Their brist… bris…'"

"Bristly."

"… 'bristly fur was'… rimmed?"

"Rimed." Elizabeth rested her chin on Jimmy's shoulder, following the words on the page with her eyes.

"… 'r-rimed with frost. Their breath froze in the air as it left their mouths, spouting forth in spumes of vapour that settled upon the hair of their bodies and formed into crystals of frost.'"

Elizabeth felt herself become warm and safe as she listened to Jimmy's soft voice. All too soon it was once more her turn to read, and this sequence repeated until the end of the chapter, which came far too soon for her liking.

"I enjoyed that, Jimmy," she told him. Jimmy smiled.

"Me too," he said. "You're brilliant at reading."

"My mother was a strict teacher. Every time I got a word wrong I would get the cane, two strokes for every syllable, which of course became a problem when I reached words such as 'paraphernalia'." She gave a dark chuckle. Jimmy stared at her for a moment before grabbing her hand and pulling her up with him as he stood. Her heart thundered in her ears and her mouth went dry and for the briefest of moments she thought he was going to kiss her, and for an even _briefer _moment she hoped he would.

"C'mon," he said, letting go of her hand and clinging onto the rope instead.

"What?" Elizabeth asked vaguely disappointed. "Why? Where?"

"You'll see, hurry up!" Jimmy began to climb down. Elizabeth gave a sigh.

_Well… probably better to follow him… _

**Thanks for reading guys! Please review ^^ Muchly appreciated!**

**Also, even though I don't own King Kong or any characters/sets within, apart from my own, for paranoia reasons:**

**© LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx 2010-2011**


	9. From the Author

_The Author felt it necessary to provide the following information to her beloved readers:_

**GUYS! Guys, guys, guys, guys, GUYS! Or girls, whichever you may be.**

**Anyway, anywho, anyhow, onwards and upwards etc., etc...**

**I just wanted to let you guys know that I have not forgotten about you!**

**I have decided to start this story again from the very beginning because a few little problems in it were really getting on my nerves...**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, subscribed, faved... every bit of your support made my heart go 'dhfkdvkbcslaew'. Yup. Just like that.**

**Keep yourself subscribed to this story if you like it because I'll put the link to the reboot up here when I publish it :)**

**Thank you for everything, peoples! **

**Lots of Love,  
Zara xx**


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